japanese candy friday: shiki meguri namagashi (giant jeans parlor!)

This year I received a box of traditional Japanese candy (wagashi) from an old-fashioned sweets shop in my town. This type of uncooked candy made from jellies or sweetened bean paste is called namagashi and this particular box is named shiki meguri, which is something like a round-up of the seasons. Each vertical row represents a season: spring, winter, summer and fall. (Or is it fall and summer? Any seasonal namagashi experts out there?)

As you can see, they were almost too pretty to eat. Eventually, I did eat them, but not before taking pictures of each piece and turning them into the above desktop wallpaper which you, my dear Japanese Candy Friday readers, may download and display on the computer of your choice. Enjoy!

Wagashi wallpaper (Right/Ctrl-click to save.)

A word on the taste: These types of candies tend to taste only of sugar, which makes them lovely accompaniments to a bowl of bitter matcha, but not so amazing just eaten on their own, except for the ume (plum) blossom (top left corner), which I could have eaten a whole bag of. Such beautiful candy is not intended to be eaten by the handful, though, so the simplicity of flavor makes sense. Oh, and the cute boar piece is in honor of the new year, which will be Year of the Boar according to the Chinese calendar.

For individual pictures of the candies, take a look at the Flickr set of all the photos I took.

Comments (12)

So gorgeous, I wouldn't have wanted to eat them either! Thank you for the wallpaper!

Posted by Amber | December 30, 2006 6:25 AM

They are so cute. I love the hedgehog looking one.

Posted by rachel | December 30, 2006 7:04 AM

Oh man, I am such a wh*re for wagashi. Thanks for the wallpaper, dude! And Happy New Year!

Posted by Mariko | December 30, 2006 11:57 AM

oooh, i love looking at wagashi! i just never get to eat them :) happy new year!

Posted by gleek | December 31, 2006 12:06 AM

Thanks for the wallpaper, it's already on my comp. Never knew about matcha until reading about it in your and Mariko's blogs. Granted, my frame of reference is limited, but my new fave is Trader Joe's Matcha Latte mix. Now TJ's needs to carry wagashi!

Posted by mary b | January 2, 2007 1:09 AM

Love the wallpaper. Do you know where I could get some inexpensive wagashi in the US or online? I'm thinking about giving wagashi as wedding favors.

Posted by kitty | January 17, 2007 1:15 AM

I would love to eat them but I have no idea where to get them.

Posted by Kristin | September 16, 2007 7:00 AM

this stuff looks great XD where can I get some?

Posted by Juji | October 26, 2007 1:40 PM

Hello, i love to look at it too! Where could i get some? i´m from germany - do you think there are some shops here?

Posted by Bryah | November 19, 2007 2:40 AM

i would love to eat those also but i do not feel like flying to japan

Posted by erica | December 21, 2007 4:56 PM

i woukd love to eat those but they are so pretty i am afraid to eat them >:(