It is a very fulfilling course where you can learn 40 different techniques by doing 17 works. And while valuing traditional culture, it will be a course where you can learn design with high artistic quality like JSA.
In this course, you can learn the techniques of making Higashi (dried sweet) and Hannamagashi (half-raw sweet) dry and containing very little moisture, thus keeping relatively longer than other wagashi. In these six lessons, you will gain the skills necessary to become a lecturer.
Easiness and appearance are the keys to making Higashi and Hannamagashi. But as in Japanese culture, it is essential to carefully protect Japanese sweets' traditional techniques, background, and delicacy with a long history. Based on this idea, this course is jointly designed and supervised by Japanese sweets craftsmen following the practice of the "Japanese Nerikiri Art Certificate Course" and "Mizugashi Art Certificate Course.
This course is supervised by Mr Naito Takayuki, a long-established Japanese confectionery shop founded in Ashiya in 1918, "Okashiji Kuchiya Toyomitsu". He sympathized with JSA's association philosophy and policy and cooperated with JSA with the desire to convey the tradition, beauty, and splendour of Japanese sweets to the future and overseas. He assisted in the design of this course.
Mr Naito said, "this course is a combination of traditional Higashi and Hannamagashi techniques and a new technique developed independently, and is designed with a focus on the four seasons and art. We make Higashi and Hannamagashi with different finishes depending on the temperature and humidity in an easy way to make at home.
In recent years, the number of artisans who make Higashi and Hannamagashi has decreased yearly. However, it is a traditional Japanese sweet with a long history. I sincerely hope that everyone can learn and enjoy this incredible conventional Japanese culture of Japanese confectionery through this course."
*The coursebooks are available in Chinese only.