Dagashi--Kosaku Ishibashi's Love Affair with Traditional Hometown Sweets

Fuki-ame (blown candy), karinto (fried dough cookies), nejiri-okoshi (twisted rice brittle), karumera-yaki (foam candy) . . .
Since Edo times, dagashi sweets of many varieties flourished in every region of Japan. Called "dagashi" to distinguish them from high-grade "jogashi" confections using white sugar, they were enjoyed as a local "hometown taste" reflecting the region's climate, history, and seasons. This exhibition explores the world of dagashi sweets in Japan, based on records created by Kosaku Ishibashi (1900-1976). As the second-generation proprietor of the "Ishibashi-ya," a venerable dagashi shop, Ishibashi was troubled by the disappearance of many dagashi varieties after the war. Traveling high and low in Japan, he endeavored to preserve dagashi for future generations.
This exhibition shows the great appeal and variety of dagashi sweets through 200 historical materials. They range from drawings of local confections made by Ishibashi during his travels to his booklets containing textual records and his models of dagashi created on the basis of five folklorist categories. While showing Ishibashi's character as a researcher who tried many methods of recording and preserving dagashi, the exhibition invites you to enjoy the shapes and colors of exquisitely made candy-craft models in the actual sizes. We hope the items abundantly displayed will convey the passion of Kosaku Ishibashi's research and depth of his love for dagashi, and that the exhibition becomes an opportunity to know the fascinating story of Japan's dagashi traditional hometown sweets.

We wish to extend our warmest appreciation to everyone whose efforts have made this exhibition possible.