To Eat The Leaf Or Not To Eat The Leaf,That Is The Question

Eating sweets sounds like a simple pleasure.And though partaking of wagashi(和菓子),or traditional Japanese snacks ,is certainly enjoyable,it is a far from simple field.
As it is now the cherry blossom viewing season, I stopped by one of the wagashi counters at Seibu and asked for some sakura-mochi(桜餅), cherry rice cakes, which I had thought would be the apropriate sweet for slowly noshing on under the full-blooming trees.
I was surprised however, when the woman behind the counter told me that the season for sakura-mochi had already passed with the month of March.She explained that the wagashi called sakura-mochi was eaten from the Doll Festival on March 3rd (because of its being a pretty pink), up until the end of the month. I confirmed this later by going to all the wagashi shops I knew of in Tsukuba and was told the same story.Sorry,no sakura-mochi.

Sakura-mochi is a flattened piece of pounded rice,dyed pink, which is filled with sweet bean paste, rolled into a crepe, and then partially wrapped with a salted cherry leaf.It was invented by a wagashi shop(Yamamoto-Ya),still located along the banks of the Sumida River, in the early 19th century.They became the craze of old Edo, then spead throughout the country and have become a standard part of spring in Japan.

In the Kansai region(Kyoto,Osaka...)however,cofectioners had their own take on the idea and while still using the salted cherry leaf and sweet beat paste, they used a different type of dough(one in which the individual grains of rice remained recognizable) and gave the cakes a different shape,something very close to a ball. It was also given a different named domyoji(道明寺).

It is domyoji,originally from Kansai, which have become the sweet to enjoy in April, especially during the cherry blossom season. and you might very well be served this tasty little morsel
this month by Japanese friends or colleagues.

If you are fortunate enough for that to occur, the next, inevitable question arises. Do you eat the leaf or not? Well...,the leaf is edible and in my opinion delicious.
However, its a matter of personal taste. In this area most people eat the leaf, though it seems that in Kyoto many people just savor the leafs aroma.

One more point to remember. Do not confuse sakura-mochi or domyoji with the Mays sweet kashiwa-mochi(柏餅). This is a similar sweet-bean filled rice cake wrapped with the leaf of a Japanese oak. It is associated with Childrens Day(May 5), because these leaves do not fall from the tree until the tree starts budding, which for the Japanese symbolizes a harmonious flow from one generation to the next.

When eating Kashiwa-mochi you should DEFINITELY NOT EAT THE LEAF, as it is not edible. There is a story I heard about the Show a Emperor upsertting his stomach by not following that rule(the Emperor it seems should not leave anything on his plate).

Its a beautiful season, so why not go to one of Tsukuba`s wagashi shops and enjoy its special flavors!!!

Avi Landau