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Yatsuhashi
is a sold mainly as a . It is one of the best known ''meibutsu'' (famous regional products) of Kyoto. It is made from glutinous , sugar, and cinnamon. Baked, it is similar to senbei. The shape of the hard crackers resembles a Japanese harp or Koto (instrument), koto, or a bamboo stalk cut lengthways. Yatsuhashi was created in 1689 during the Genroku era (1688–1704) or in 1805 during the Bunka era (1804–1818) in the Edo period (1603–1868). The name Yatsuhashi comes from a scene in ''The Tale of Ise'' or from the musician Yatsuhashi Kengyo. Yatsuhashi is a popular souvenir today, and according to a survey conducted by the city of Kyoto in 2022, 89.2% of Japanese tourists visiting Kyoto bought souvenirs, of which 10.7% bought yatsuhashi. Raw, unbaked has a soft, mochi-like texture and is often eaten wrapped around . The unbaked yatsuhashi (''Nama yatsuhashi'') is cut into a square shape after being rolled very thin, and folded in half diagonally to make a triangle shape, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yatsuhashi Kengyo
Yatsuhashi Kengyō ( 八橋 検校; 1614–1685) was a Japanese musician and composer from Kyoto. The name kengyō is an honorary title given to highly skilled blind musicians. Yatsuhashi, who was born and died in Japan, was originally a player of the shamisen, but later learned the koto from a musician of the Japanese court. While the instrument was originally restricted to the court, Yatsuhashi is credited as the first musician to introduce and teach the koto to general audiences. He is thus known as the "Father of Modern Koto." He changed the limited selection of six pieces to a brand new style of koto music which he called '' kumi uta''. Yatsuhashi changed the '' Tsukushi goto'' tunings, which were based on tunings used in gagaku is a type of Japanese classical music that was historically used for imperial court music and dances. was developed as court music of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and its near-current form was established in the Heian period (794–1185) a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wagashi
is traditional Japanese confectionery, typically made using plant-based ingredients and with an emphasis on seasonality. ''Wagashi'' generally makes use of cooking methods that pre-date Western influence in Japan. It is often served with green tea. Most of today's wagashi was born during the Edo period (1603–1868). This was a period of peace, economic and cultural prosperity, and increased domestic self-sufficiency in sugar. During the Edo period, a type of wagashi called were made by kneading white bean paste, gyūhi, sugar, yams, and other ingredients, and formed into various colors and shapes based on seasonal flowers, animals, nature, events, customs, and other themes. Definition In Japan, the word for sweets or confectionery, , originally referred to fruits and nuts. Fruits and nuts may be eaten as snacks between meals and served as "sweets" during a tea ceremony. The word ''Wa'' means "Japanese", and ''kashi'' becomes ''gashi'' in compound words, ''wagashi'' there ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koto (instrument)
The is a Japanese plucked half-tube zither instrument, and the national instrument of Japan. It is derived from the Chinese and , and similar to the Mongolian , the Korean and , the Vietnamese , the Sundanese and the Kazakh . Koto are roughly in length, and made from Paulownia wood ('' Paulownia tomentosa'', known as ). The most common type uses 13 strings strung over movable bridges used for tuning, different pieces possibly requiring different tuning. Seventeen-string koto are also common, and act as bass in ensembles. Koto strings are generally plucked using three fingerpicks (), worn on the first three fingers of the right hand. Names and types The character for ''koto'' is , although is often used. However, (''koto'') is the general term for all string instruments in the Japanese language,(jaKotobank koto/ref> including instruments such as the , , , , , and so on. When read as , it indicates the Chinese instrument . The term is used today in the same way. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miyagegashi
refers to a sweet made with the purpose of selling it as a souvenir. As with most other Japanese souvenirs (), the typical is a regional specialty () and cannot be bought outside its specific geographic area. The making and selling of is an important part of Japan's souvenir () industry. List of * Available everywhere: ** Japanese cheesecake * Fukuoka: ** , rolled pastry containing red bean paste ** ** * Fukushima: ** ** Mamador * Hiroshima: ** * Hokkaido: ** ** Royce' * Hyōgo: ** Castella, a sponge cake made of sugar, flour, eggs, and starch syrup. Castella was brought to Japan by Portuguese merchants in the 16th century.Bunmeidou History of Castell The name is derived from Portuguese language, Portuguese , meaning "bread from Castile". Castella cake is usually sold in long boxes, with the cake inside being approximately long. ** ** * Kumamoto: ** * Kyoto: **, one of the region's best known . It is made from glutinous , sugar and cinnamon. Baked, it is simi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meibutsu
is a Japanese language, Japanese term most often applied to regional specialties (also known as ). can also be applied to specialized areas of interest, such as , where it refers to famous tea utensils, or Japanese swords, where it refers to specific named famous blades. Definition could be classified into the following five categories:According to a paper by Laura Nenzi cited by Jilly Traganou in ''The Tokaido Road: Traveling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan'' (Routledge, 2004), (72) * , regional Japanese food specialties such as the roasted rice cakes () of Hodogaya, and the Yam (vegetable), yam gruel, ''Tororo (food), toro-jiru'' of Mariko; * Japanese crafts as souvenirs such as the swords of Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura or the shell-decorated screens of Enoshima; In the past, also included: * Supernatural souvenirs and wonder-working panaceas, such as the bitter powders of Menoke that supposedly cured a large number of illnesses; * Bizarre things that ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and List of islands of Japan, thousands of smaller islands, covering . Japan has a population of over 123 million as of 2025, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh-most populous country. The capital of Japan and List of cities in Japan, its largest city is Tokyo; the Greater Tokyo Area is the List of largest cities, largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37 million inhabitants as of 2024. Japan is divided into 47 Prefectures of Japan, administrative prefectures and List of regions of Japan, eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of Geography of Japan, the countr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Bean Paste
Red bean paste () or red bean jam, also called adzuki bean paste or ''anko'' (a Japanese word), is a paste made of red beans (also called "adzuki beans"), used in East Asian cuisine. The paste is prepared by boiling the beans, then mashing or grinding them. At this stage, the paste can be sweetened or left as it is. The color of the paste is usually dark red, which comes from the husk of the beans. In Korean cuisine, the adzuki beans (often the black variety) can also be husked prior to cooking, resulting in a white paste. It is also possible to remove the husk by sieving after cooking, but before sweetening, resulting in a red paste that is smoother and more homogeneous. Etymology In Japanese, a number of names are used to refer to red bean paste; these include , and . Strictly speaking, the term ''an'' can refer to almost any sweet, edible, mashed paste, although without qualifiers red beans are assumed, while refers specifically to the paste made with red beans. Ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mochi
A mochi ( ; Japanese ) is a Japanese rice cake made of , a short-grain Japonica rice, japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The steamed rice is pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape. In Japan, it is traditionally made in a ceremony called . While eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year, and is commonly sold and eaten during that time. Mochi is made up of polysaccharides, Clofibrate, lipids, protein, and water. Mochi has a varied structure of amylopectin gel, starch grains, and air bubbles. In terms of starch content, the rice used for mochi is very low in amylose and has a high amylopectin level, producing a gel-like consistency. The protein content of the japonica rice used to make mochi is higher than that of standard short-grain rice. Mochi is similar to , which is made with rice flour instead of pounded rice grains. History Red rice was the original variant used in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tale Of Ise
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee'') ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edo Period
The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterized by prolonged peace and stability, urbanization and economic growth, strict social order, Isolationism, isolationist foreign policies, and popular enjoyment of Japanese art, arts and Culture of Japan, culture. In 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu prevailed at the Battle of Sekigahara and established hegemony over most of Japan, and in 1603 was given the title ''shogun'' by Emperor Go-Yōzei. Ieyasu resigned two years later in favor of his son Tokugawa Hidetada, Hidetada, but maintained power, and defeated the primary rival to his authority, Toyotomi Hideyori, at the Siege of Osaka in 1615 before his death the next year. Peace generally prevailed from this point on, making samurai largely redundant. Tokugawa sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bunka
was a after '' Kyōwa'' and before ''Bunsei''. The period spanned the years from January 1804 to April 1818. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * February 11, 1804 (): The new era name of ''Bunka'' ( meaning "Culture" or "Civilization") was created to mark the start of a new 60-year cycle of the Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch system of the Chinese calendar which was on New Year's Day, thnew moon dayof 2 November 1804. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in '' Kyōwa'' 4. Events of the ''Bunka'' era * 1804 (''Bunka 1''): '' Daigaku-no-kami'' Hayashi Jussai (1768–1841) explained the shogunate foreign policy to Emperor Kōkaku in Kyoto. * June 1805 (''Bunka 2''): Genpaku Sugita (1733–1817) is granted an audience with Shōgun Ienari to explain differences between traditional medical knowledge and Western medical knowledge. * September 25, 1810 (''Bunka 7, 27th day of the 8th month''): Earthquake in northern Honshū (Latitude: 39.900/Longitude: 139. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
