Kanazawa's best traditional sweets you should try

Kanazawa’s three traditional sweets you should try

Tsujiura

Tsujiura is a type of sugar confectionary that is only available around Kanazawa city in Ishikawa prefecture during the New Year period. It is made with a mixture of sugar and sticky rice that is formed into a drawstring pouch that resembles a flower. Inside, it contains a small paper fortune. Each paper has a different fortune telling and it is nice to compare with others. Apart from the flower-shaped one, there is also one in a pentagonal-shaped drawstring pouch.

Posted on 01/07/2015

This is a type of Japanese confectionary on sale for a limited period only just before and after the Hyakumangoku Festival held every June. The sweet is created featuring the image of Princess Tama, who was the wife of Toshitsune Maeda, the 3rd lord of the Kaga domain. Combining the brightness of gold leaf and the cuteness of Temari-fu (decorative wheat gluten in the form of a ball of thread), it represents Princess Tama gracefully playing with a ball of thread.

Photo: Kanazawa City

Photo: Kanazawa City

Like Tsujiura, Futtoku Senbei (Futtoku rice cracker) is a type of Japanese confectionary made especially for the New Year and only available in and around Kanazawa. A rice cake base is made in the shape of a Uchide-no-kozuchi (a small hammer for good luck) or Tsuzumi (a Japanese drum), and baked in yellow and white. Inside, there is a Compeito (solid sugar sweet) or small clay doll, and until you eat it you cannot see inside. In 1809, the Kaga domain’s 12th lord Narinaga Maeda had Futtoku made for celebrations. It was invented by the wife of Kichizo Kashida, the Maeda clan’s appointed craftsman, 7th generation. Following this, Futtoku become known as a celebration sweet eaten only at New Year during the Meiji era. At present, there is only one shop producing Futtoku.