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Jul 12, 2022 13 tweets 17 min read Read on X
👅MELT-IN-THE-MOUTH MORSELS💦

Wibbly-wobbly warabimochi (わらび餅)☺️

A popular summer snack in Kansai, the melt-in-your-mouth warabimochi is a jelly-like sweet traditionally made from bracken starch (わらび粉 'warabiko').
It's covered with sweet, toasted soybean flour (黄粉).
There is a legend that Emperor Daigo (醍醐天皇 885-930) loved a particular type of warabimochi so much that he bestowed on it the rank of 'dayū' (大夫 -5th court rank). Over time 'Oka-tayū' (岡大夫) came to be used for warabimochi in general.
#Kyoto #Japan #わらび餅 #warabimochi
As real bracken starch (warabi) can be very expensive, many stores nowadays substitute it with potato, tapioca or kudzu (Japanese arrowroot) starch.

Today's delicious warabimochi is from Sagano's 'Chikuji-an' (嵯峨野/竹路庵). It's absolutely buried in kinako!🙌
#Japan #Kyoto
Nara prefecture has long been famous for its bracken starch, and during poor harvests warabimochi was used as an emergency food by farming communities.

If extracted by hand only about 70g of starch is produced from 10kg of bracken roots...a process that takes about 10 days😓
Another sweet popular in Kansai during the summer months is a cubed confection called 'kuzuyaki' (葛焼).
Sugar, kudzu powder and bean paste are kneaded into a dough, cut into squares, and steamed. The sweets are finished by grilling each side and sprinkling with flour.
#和菓子
Counted amongst the '7 Flowers of Autumn' (秋の七草), kudzu (葛) is a type of vine that has been used for centuries in cooking. Believed to aid with stomach problems, the dried stems are also used to make fabric & baskets. It symbolises strength of spirit, healing, and patience.
Like bracken starch, kudzu was first farmed in Nara prefecture. In the Momoyama period kudzu became a popular ingredient in the foods and sweets prepared for tea ceremony, and as a result its popularity spread.

It takes about 100kg of kudzu to produce 10kg of 'flour'🥹
#和菓子
Originating in Kyōto, 'kuzukiri' (くずきり) is a dish of noodles made from starch-rich kudzu root. Enjoyed in the hot summer months, kuzukiri is typically served cold with a brown-sugar syrup.

Kuzu has long been considered to have medicinal properties, helping with circulation.
Kagizen Yoshifusa (鍵善良房) is particularly well-known for their kuzukiri (くずきり), which is available all year round😛🧊🍜

➡️kagizen.co.jp
#くずきり #kuzukiri #鍵善良房 #KagizenYoshifusa #Kyoto #京都 #Japan
Kuzu (葛) is a popular ingredient for makers of traditional Japanese sweets, especially in the hotter months.

the arrowroot vine
holds on tight...
a post
葛蔓の手にしてまとふ柱かな
-Kobayashi Issa (小林一茶), 1819.
Trans. David G. Lanoue.

#wagashi #和菓子 #haiku #Japan #葛
🚦KOHAKU🍬
Kohaku (琥珀 lit. 'amber') is a jelly-like sweet made from agar-agar. Because it can be flavoured and moulded, there are almost limitless varieties on offer.

The name is a reference to the original sweets being dyed amber with gardenia fruit.
#琥珀 #kohaku #Japan
Shōjuken (松壽軒) creates sweets for Kōdai-ji's many tea gatherings. During summer, agar confections are particularly popular (similar to kohaku but without a crisp sugar coat).

This jewel-like leaf was delicately flavoured with ume, & melted away in an instant😋
#松壽軒 #Kyoto

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More from @camelliakyoto

May 28
🔔🪨😭THE GREAT BUDDHA'S WONDERS🐂💢👂

Kyōto was once home to the greatest statue of Buddha in all Japan.
4m taller than Tōdai-ji's Daibutsu, the statue stood in an immense hall in precincts now taken up by Toyokuni-jinja and Hōkō-ji (remnant of the original Buddha's home).


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The great hall and last (vastly smaller) incarnation of Kyōto's Daibutsu are sadly lost, but within the neighbourhood (where once the temple precincts sprawled) are a series of wonders.
They include a great bell that brought down a ruling clan, an exploding cow, & a tomb of ears.


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1) THE CHIMES OF DOOM🔔

Having seized control of the country after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu calmly waited for an excuse to destroy the rival Toyotomi clan.
His chance came with the forging of a new bell and an inscription that could be read as a threat.


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Read 24 tweets
Aug 21, 2023
🙊THE MONKEY'S SLIDE🛝
At first glance the teahouse garden appears to be made up of mostly moss, pine & camellia...but if you look more closely the borders are packed thick with dozens of varieties of plants.
One of the most beautiful at this time of year is the "Monkey's Slide".


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More commonly known as crape myrtle (百日紅), older generations in Japan fondly call the tree 'saru suberi' (サルスベリ the "monkey's slide").
The bark of the tree is so smooth that even monkeys struggle to get a foothold!

#Kyoto #京都 #Japan #百日紅 #サルスベリ #IwataMonkeyPark


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Crape (also crepe) myrtle gets its name from the appearance of its flowers, which look very much like crepe paper.
Blooming from mid-summer through to autumn, the flowers (commonly bright pink) are also known in Japan as 'hyakujitsukō' (百日紅 'red for 100 days').

#Japan #百日紅


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Read 6 tweets
Jun 19, 2023
🎨A MODERN TOUCH🖌️

One of the Shōren-in's (青蓮院) most striking features greets you as you enter the drawing room...a series of bold coloured lotuses, blooming across 60 panels.
Begun in 2005, the work was created by the artist 'Ki-yan' (キーヤン/Kimura Hideki 木村英輝).
#Japan ImageImageImageImage
When visiting Shōren-in, Kimura was suddenly inspired to fill the drawing room's plain fusuma with colour.

It took him two years to complete the 3 sets of lotus paintings (蓮三部作)...
🪷"Blue Illusion" (青の幻想)
🪷"Amitabha's Pure Land" (極楽浄土)
🪷"Hymn of Life" (生命賛歌) ImageImageImageImage
Why all the blue lotuses?🤔

Shōren-in was originally constructed atop Mt Hiei as a lodging facility for monks serving at Enryaku-ji.

Shōren-bō was named after a nearby pond in which blue lotus flowers bloomed ('shōrenge'). Many famous monks, such as Saichō & Ennin, lived here. twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
Read 8 tweets
May 11, 2023
🚪😱HAUNTED GATES & DANCING CATS😼👻

It's been a while since I've done a #folklorethursday, so here's some local, rather less well-known tales.

Demizu was once home to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's lavish palace 'Jurakudai' (聚樂第), and the area has many strange wonders.
#Kyoto #京都 ImageImageImageImage
Kannon-ji's 'Gate of 100 Lashings' (観音寺 百叩きの門) belonged originally to the prison at Fushimi Castle (伏見城). When the castle was dismantled the doorway was gifted to the temple🏯🚪🩸😰👋

The gate is just 1 of the '7 Wonders of Demizu' (出水の七不思議).
#Kyoto #京都 #出水 ImageImageImageImage
Before prisoners were set free they underwent a final punishment at the prison gate...a warning to stay on the straight & narrow.
They were lashed 100 times with a piece of split bamboo across the back. It was agonizing, & sometimes deadly!

Image thanks🙇‍♂️-bakumatsuya.com ImageImageImageImage
Read 23 tweets
May 10, 2023
'May Sickness' (五月病 'gogatsu-byō') is a term for a seasonal disorder that strikes just as Golden Week comes to an end.
After the flurry of changes that take place each April, it may seem like May should be smooth sailing, but returning to work/school after the break is tough. ImageImageImageImage
It may seem like a small thing, but sweets absolutely help lift a gloomy mood...

🌫️🌩️☁️😶‍🌫️🌥️🌤️🌞

Kameya Yoshinaga (亀屋良長) has done the impossible and perfectly captured the blue skies & cotton puff clouds of May in sweet form☺️

The wonderful 'hikōki-gumo' (ひこうき雲)✨ ImageImageImageImage
While 'May Blues' doesn't sound particularly serious, in some cases it can lead to depression, anxiety & insomnia.
In April the new school/work year begins, and there's a feeling that Golden Week only helps exacerbate feelings of disorientation, mental exhaustion, & apprehension. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Read 4 tweets
Apr 20, 2023
Astonishingly the temperature will soar close to 30 degrees today...the hottest day of the year so far😓

As this heat is a little unexpected we swooped on Ishidatami (石畳) for their famous matcha soft serve (抹茶ソフトクリーム). Fresh matcha is kneaded into the ice-cream🍵🍨🙌 ImageImageImageImage
Fresh matcha as an ingredient in cooking and baking tends to lose its flavour quickly, and so Ishidatami doesn't serve ice-cream older than 3 hours, preferring instead to make new batches throughout the day😮

#Kyoto #京都 #matcha #抹茶 #icecream #Ninenzaka #二年坂 ImageImageImageImage
Another favourite (though much pricier) way to cool down is with Oimatsu's (老松) cheerful 'natsukan-tō' (夏柑糖 'sugared Chinese citron')🍊🥰

#Kyoto #京都 #夏柑糖 #老松 #oimatsu #Japan #citron #chinesecitron #orange
Read 4 tweets

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