We had done a bit of research ahead of time and were interested in wagashi making in Kanazawa. The Ishikawa Local Products Center was located just down the street from Kenrokuen Garden. The center sold a large assortment of locally produced goods from around the prefecture. They also had an experience center on the second floor where guests could try making various traditional Japanese goods.

We were interested in the wagashi making workshop. They had this nice sign on the second floor that outlined what the wagashi experience entailed. We talked to the receptionist and bought two tickets for the 11:30 class. After paying the fee we received our ¥500 shopping vouchers. We had a bit of time to kill, so we checked out the local products store downstairs.

Wagashi Experience

When it was about time for the experience to start, we went back to the second floor. The experience hall was quite large and we later learned that there was capacity for up to 144 people per session. For our session there were a couple dozen people that were evenly distributed between the 12 or so rows of chairs.

All of the ingredients and tools were beautifully set out for us. In the center of the table there were examples of which wagashi we would be making. From left to right they were hydrangea, blue/green plum, and lotus flower. One super cool thing was that the wagashi we were making were seasonal. Which meant that we could come back during any other season and probably make completely different ones.

Our instructor was very nice and progressed at a slow, but steady pace. They had a camera on his workstation that was fed to multiple large TVs. Most of shapes and unique designs were formed using standard items like chopsticks or even these colanders. After completing each piece, we put them in one of the plastic display boxes that were provided. By the end we had three beautiful hand made wagashi in these cute display boxes.

Final Thoughts

We really enjoyed the wagashi making in Kanazawa. At first we were a little concerned, because all of the directions were in Japanese. However, if you pay attention to the teacher and follow along, you can figure out what to do. We highly recommend this experience to anyone that is travelling to Kanazawa.

More to Come…

Here is the link to their website.