Kyoto in July is known for the Gion Festival! What kind of Japanese sweets are only available during this time of year?

Summer has arrived in Kyoto as the days get hotter and hotter, and in July, the city is filled with the Gion Festival.
In 2022, the Yamaboko Junko and stalls will be back, and the festival is expected to be as exciting as it was before the Corona Disaster.
So, we would like to introduce some Japanese sweets associated with the Gion Festival!

Table of Contents

■Sweets eaten only once a year: Gyoja Mochi

■The godfather is the chief priest of Yasaka Shrine: Shitatari

■Elegant sweets using white miso: Gion Chigo Mochi

■ Summary

■Sweets eaten only once a year: Gyoja Mochi

The first confectionery is "Gyoja Mochi" by Kashiwaya Mitsusada, a long-established shop founded in 1806 in Higashiyama Yasui.
Gyoja Mochi is a sweet made with white miso paste that is sold only once a year on July 16 (the day of the Gion Festival Yoiyama).
In 1806, an epidemic broke out in the city of Kyoto. At that time, the fourth generation of "Kashiwaya" made confections in the shape of ascetic's robes, as he had been told in a dream while he was training as a mountain ascetic.
The people who offered it to En no Gyoja-yama, the float of the Gion Festival, and distributed it to the people around them escaped from the plague.
Since then, this snack has been named "Gyoja Mochi" and is sold only once a year on the night before the Yamahoko procession, i.e., on the first day of Yoiyama. (From 2017, it is no longer sold by reservation, but only on the day of the festival.)
The author joined the line around 10:00 a.m. when he previously purchased the product, and was finally able to obtain two boxes of five pieces about an hour and a half later!

The white miso bean paste and gyuhi mochi are wrapped in a crepe-like crust. The white miso bean paste in the soft dough has a rich and full flavor of miso. The spicy flavor of the sansho (Japanese pepper) is spicy and tangy there, so I was quite surprised at the first bite (laugh).
The sauce is thick and creamy, more like a white miso sauce than a red bean paste. The flavor spreads softly throughout the mouth.
I am sure that these precious sweets will be bought and passed down for decades and centuries to come by people who wish for good health.

Incidentally, Kashiwaya Mitsusada has another confectionery that we would like to recommend. It is "Ookini. It was introduced by an idol group and became a hot topic on the Internet for a while!
It is a confection of surimitsu amber, crispy on the outside but chunky on the inside!
The texture is unlike anything you have ever eaten before, and the freshness slowly melts away in your mouth.
It comes in four colors: white, brown, yellowish green, and pink. The brown has a brown sugar flavor, rich and mellow. The yellow-green was covered with a fresh yuzu aroma, and the pink had a berry flavor.
When frozen, it was crisp and cool, just like a sorbet. The cute coloring and unique texture and flavor make it easy to understand why it is so popular. It is easy to see why they are so popular.

Name of store:Kashiwaya Mitsusada
Address: 33-2 Bishamon-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto
Phone number: 075-561-2263

The godfather is a priest of Yasaka Shrine: Shitatari

The next confectionary is "shitari" by Kamehironaga. Kamehironaga is a long-established Japanese confectionery with a store in Karasuma Oike, established over 200 years ago.

Inheriting the desire of its predecessors to "cherish relationships with people," the company does not ship products, but only sells them locally.
The most well-known zao-mono along with dried sweets is "shitari," which was invented around 1970 to be served at the tea ceremony of Kikusuibachi, one of the floats of the Gion Festival.

Kikusuihoko is said to be named after the Chinese legend "Kikujidou," or "chrysanthemum water," which is said to be associated with the immortality of life, since a person drank the "dripping" of chrysanthemum dew and lived a long life of 700 years. It is said that the name was given by the priest of Yasaka Shrine based on the image of medicinal water dripping from chrysanthemum leaves.

It is made with simple but carefully selected ingredients such as brown sugar from Okinawa, high-quality coarse grains, the finest Wasanbon from Awa, and agar from Tanba, which has a strong texture.
It is characterized by its cool appearance, the natural sweetness of brown sugar that spreads softly, and the texture of agar that melts in your mouth.

Name of store:Kamehiroei era (1151.9.27-1154.10.28)
Address: 359 Wakuya-cho, Takoyakushi Kamigaru, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto
Phone number: 075-221-5965

■Elegant sweets using white miso: Gion Chigo Mochi

The last snack is "Gion Chigo Mochi" by Sanjo Wakasaya Honten in Horikawa Sanjo.

Kyoto confectioner Sanjo Wakasaya has been making wagashi in Kyoto since 1893, and their signature confection is the "Gion Chigo Mochi. There are many wagashi in Kyoto that use white miso, and this is one of the best examples.
Three pieces are placed in one package and decorated with red, white, and yellow strips of paper, evoking the grandeur of the Gion Festival.
In the old days, the Gion Festival had a procession on June 1 called "Sha-San," in which children were given the title of "shrine attendant. On the way back from Yasaka Shrine, the children served rice cakes dipped in miso sauce and drinks at a tea store at the gate of the shrine.
In the early Taisho era (1912-1926), the second owner of the store, who was taking care of children, learned about this rice cake and put his ingenuity into it, creating the Gion Chigo Mochi.

Some come in a box with a Hoko float motif, which is good for a small gift as it gives the feeling of the Gion Festival.
When you bite into a piece of the soft and fluffy Gyuhi, the richness of the white miso paste fills your mouth.
The moderate sweetness and lingering miso flavor lingered, giving me a somewhat gentle feeling. I felt I understood why it has been loved by men and women of all ages for so long.
Another recommendation from this store is "Kurumi-ita," a fu-yaki rice cracker kneaded with walnuts and covered with white miso sugar. It also contains a little butter, which adds a little richness to the crispy texture of the fu-yaki rice cracker, making it a delicious, lingering taste, so check it out.

Name of store:Sanjo Wakasaya
Address: 675 Hashinishi-cho, Horikawa Nishiiru, Sanjo-Dori, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto City
Phone number: 075-841-1381

HP:http://www.wakasaya.jp/

■ Summary

Did you find any that caught your attention? This year, enjoy the Gion Festival atmosphere with a variety of Japanese sweets.