❄️FESTIVE FANCIES🦌
looking delicious
the snow falling softly
softly
うまさふな雪やふふはりふふはりと
-Kobayashi Issa (小林一茶).
Trans. David Lanoue.
As we wait impatiently for snow, Oimatsu's (老松) 'kazahana' (風花) brings festive cheer to the tearoom. The sweet imagines snowflakes sparkling as they fall.
#Kyoto #京都 #wagashi #和菓子 #京菓子 #sweets #snow #winter #festive
It may not look like the most festive of treats, but New Year for Nao-san is marked by the arrival of her beloved 'turnips'🥹
She begins 'kabura' (かぶら) season with Nijō Wakasaya's (二條若狭屋) adorable offering.
How many kabura will she consume this winter?🤔
#wagashi #和菓子 #茶道 #teaceremony #winter #japanesesweets #turnip #Japan #Kyoto
Another adorable visitor to the tearoom....'Kanazawa Bunchō' (金澤文鳥)🥰
Seika Muromachi's (清香室町) Java sparrow-inspired yōkan come in a range of flavours. This rather festive-looking one contains figs and berries, and is flavoured with Kaga black tea (加賀紅茶).
Even if you don't have the time, space or inclination to put up a Christmas tree, that's no reason to miss out.
Oimatsu's (老松) 'holy night' (聖夜 'seiya') is a colourful kinton dressed up as a tree all decked out for the big day🎄🎶
It seems that the Earl of Eulenburg decorated the first Christmas tree in Japan (at the Prussian Embassy) in 1860.
A few years later, in 1875, the prominent Japanese statesman and naval engineer Katsu Kaishū attended one of the first Christmas parties (held by an American family).
Arriving with Christianity, the first recorded Christmas celebration in Japan was held by the Jesuit missionary, Cosme de Trace, in 1552 (in Yamaguchi).
In 1560 100 newly baptized Christians in Kyōto gathered for a celebratory 'Kōtansai' (降誕祭 'Nativity') mass.
Despite an intriguing claim by missionary Luis Frois that Oda Nobunaga and Matsunaga Hisahide held a Christmas ceasefire (suggesting celebrations were common place), by 1612 Tokugawa Ieyasu banned Christianity on pain of death. Christmas more or less vanished again for 250 years.
Even the pandango at Panda-no-Sanpo are getting in the festive spirit🎉🙌
It's another bitterly cold day here in Kyōto, so a hot cup of shiruko (with bathing panda!) is the perfect remedy♨️
🎄➡️https://pandanosanpo.com/english/home/
#pandango #Kyoto #京都 #ぱんだの散歩 #dango #PandanoSanpo #japanesesweets
In the absence of snow I'll more than make do with Naraya Honten's (奈良屋本店) adorable meringue 'yuki taruman' (雪たる満)⛄️🥰
Nona's (のな) snow inspired sweets: milk, tea and caramelized apple flavoured 'hatsu-yuki' (初雪 'first snow'), tea and buttered pear 'kogome-yuki' (粉米雪 'crushed snow').
#snow #wagashi #Kyoto #Japan #japanesesweets #sweetday #everydaymatcha
Camellia Tea Ceremony