Experience the Art and Craft of Wasanbon

The afternoon workshop is now fully booked, but please let us know if you would like to be added to the waiting list. There are still spaces for the evening workshop.

 

Wagashi are Japanese sweets, and they come in many stunning varieties, each belonging to traditions developed since the Edo period. This workshop is a rare opportunity to learn about the art of wasanbon, a particular type of wagashi which shares its name with the fine-grained sugar used to make it.

 

Wasanbon are shaped using intricately carved wooden moulds, or kashi kigata, and this workshop will be led by Ayumi Uehara, a confectioner whose father Yoshihiro Ichihara is one of the last living artisans who continues to make them by hand.

 

Uehara will explain how wasanbon sugar is made and guide attendees through the process of binding the sugar and shaping it in the moulds. Uehara will then discuss the courtly tea culture which gave rise to wagashi and at the end of the workshops attendees will be served served with green tea and a mixture of just-made and several-day-old wasanbon.

 

Workshop numbers will be limited to 15 per session and priority given to members.

 

To reserve your place, please call the Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk or submit the online booking form.

 

Admission: £12 per head – booking essential
Book online here (priority for members)