Prime Minister’s Award-winning confectionery shop “Sakuraya

Gyokuro Musume, a useful souvenir, won the Prime Minister’s Award and the Fujieda Selection 2024. A wide range of products from the usual Wagashi to Jyo-namagashi used in the tea ceremony are available for customers’ enjoyment.

Usual Wagashi and Jyo-namagashi for Tea Ceremony

Wagashi (和菓子, wa-gashi) is a traditional Japanese confection that is often served with green tea, especially the type made of mochi, anko (azuki bean paste), and fruit.

Wikipedia: Wagashi

Founded in 1947, Sakuraya has been in business for three generations in Okabe-cho, Fujieda City.

The store interior is large for a Japanese confectionery shop. In the display case near the cash register are freshly made dumplings, manjus (buns), and other fresh confections, often purchased by neighbors.

In the back of the store is a colorful and gorgeous display of Jyo-namagashi that is japanese moist sweets, a type of confectionery used mainly in the tea ceremony. Among Japanese confectionery shops, there are probably only a few that sell Jyo-namagashi. It is a confectionery that requires skill, sensitivity, and a lot of time and effort.

Sakuraya always has about 10 varieties of Jyo-namagashi on hand.

Hideyuki Sakurai, the current third-generation owner, has loved drawing pictures since he was a child, and later graduated from an art college in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, and started his career in Japanese confectionery.

His sensibility is evident in his Wagashi, and above all, his husband told us that he enjoys making sweets every day.

Gyokuro Musume, a souvenir from Okabe Town, Fujieda City

When Okabe-cho, Fujieda City was still Okabe City before the merger, the father, the second generation of the family, wanted to create a specialty of Okabe, so he created a confectionery using gyokuro tea leaves, a specialty of Okabe (Asahina area).

The young third generation secretly changed the delicate distribution of ingredients in the recipe without telling his father. The confectionery later won the Prime Minister’s Award at the 23rd National Confectionary Exposition (1998).

In recent years, the amount of gyokuro has been increased to give the “Gyokuro Musume” a richer tea flavor, and it was recognized as a Fujieda Selection in 2024.

Gyokuro is kneaded into the moist dough, which envelopes a fine and pleasantly textured koshian (sweet bean paste). The moderate sweetness is appreciated by a wide range of people.

The Passing of the Baton from the Third Generation

The first generation grandfather entered the world of confectionery as soon as he graduated from school. However, his work was temporarily interrupted by the war. At that time, he was sent to Rabaul in Papua New Guinea, near the island of Gadarkanal, but fortunately he was able to return home safely at the end of the war. Soon after the war, Sakuraya was established.

Grandfather honed his skills in all kinds of confectionery, including Japanese and Western confectionery, bread, and amezaiku, and became well-known in the area. He loved sweets and his work.

Then there is his father, the second generation who created the specialty of Okabe in Fujieda City, and the current third generation who continues to develop while inheriting everything he has done. However, there is currently no heir to the family.

The owner says that it would be sad to see the techniques and recipes of wagashi that have been accumulated and passed down so far cease to exist. Therefore, he is now looking for someone who can take over the recipe.

He says that he does not have enough time to take on apprentices, but he is accepting inquiries from anyone who is interested.

Recently, there are people from outside of Japan who are interested in Japanese traditional culture and come to Japan to train, so it would be great if there are people who are willing to do so regardless of whether they are in Japan or overseas.

Wagashi is also a part of traditional Japanese culture, and I selfishly hope that the artisans who can make it will continue to do so for future generations.