is a Japanese confection (''wagashi'') consisting of sweet, pink-colored rice cake (''

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 ...

'') with

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 ...

(''anko'') filling, wrapped in a pickled

cherry blossom The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in ''Prunus'' subgenus '' Cerasus''. ''Sakura'' usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of ''Prunus serrulata'', not trees grown for their fruit (although ...

(''sakura'') leaf, which may or may not be eaten depending on individual preference. Traditionally, the sweet is eaten during the spring season, especially at the annual ''

Hinamatsuri , also called Doll's Day or Girls' Day, is an annual festival in Japan (but not a national holiday), celebrated on 3March of each year. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005)"Hina Matsuri"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 313. Platforms covered with ...

'' celebration on March 3 and flower viewing (''

hanami is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers; in this case almost always mean those of the or, less frequently, trees. From the end of March to early May, cherry trees bloom all over Japan, and around the s ...

'') parties.

History

The invention of sakuramochi is traditionally attributed to the Mukōjima neighborhood of

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

(today Tokyo) in the second year of the Kyōhō era (1717 AD), when Shinroku Yamamoto, who had worked as a gatekeeper at Chōmei-ji Temple since 1691, established a teahouse named Yamamoto-ya in front of the temple. Originally meant for those visiting their family graves in the Chōmei-ji cemetery, the sweet was wrapped in cherry blossom leaves Yamamoto collected while cleaning up the temple grounds. The sweet grew popular among the crowds of ''hanami''-goers, many of whom were attracted by the cherry blossom trees planted along the

Sumida River The is a river that flows through central Tokyo, Japan. It branches from the Arakawa River at Iwabuchi (in Kita-ku) and flows into Tokyo Bay. Its tributaries include the Kanda and Shakujii rivers. It passes through the Kita, Adachi, Arak ...

by the order of the ''shōgun''

Tokugawa Yoshimune was the eighth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Yoshimune is know ...

. Yamamoto-ya remains in business to this day and is often simply referred to as Chōmeiji. Available all year, its sakuramochi is made from wheat flour, adzuki from

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

, and Oshima cherry leaves from

Matsuzaki, Shizuoka is a town located in on the southwest coast of Izu Peninsula in Kamo District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 6,563 in 2969 households, and a population density of 77 persons per km². The total area of t ...

, using a recipe largely unchanged since the Edo period. Chomeiji Sakuramochi

Types

There are two major types of sakuramochi: Chōmeiji and Dōmyōji. Though their origins are regional, both types are often available at ''wagashi'' shops and supermarkets. ; Kanto style : Sakuramochi common in the Kantō region, particularly in Tokyo, also known as ''Chōmeiji-mochi''. This type is a kind of crêpe made from ''shiratama-ko'' (glutinous rice flour), though the original sakuramochi at Chōmeiji Yamamoto-ya uses wheat flour. ; Kansai style : Sakuramochi common in the

Kansai The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...

region, also referred to as '' Dōmyōji-mochi'' after the Buddhist temple in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

where its nuns made the famous ''Dōmyōji-hoshii'' (dried glutinous rice). It is somewhat similar to

ohagi is a wagashi (Japanese confection) made with glutinous rice, white rice (ratio of 7:3, or only glutinous rice), and sweet azuki paste (red bean paste). They are made by soaking the rice for approximately 1 hour. The rice is then cooked, and a ...

References

{{reflist Japanese cuisine Cherry blossom Wagashi

History

Types

See also

References