I love Japanese traditional sweets (wagashi), especially everything that has to do with mochi and dango. In fact, dango is the first wagashi I ever tried when I visited Japan for the very first time in 2016. When I ate aburi mochi a while ago I noticed for the first time how connected some Japanese sweets are to religious believes or places, which I find quite interesting. So, when I found out about where and how mitarashi dango were invented, I had to go there! (Especially b

About Ichiwa and Aburi-Mochi Ichiwa is a over 1000 years old shop right next to the Imamiya Shrine and therefore the oldest sweets shop in Kyoto. It has been open since Heian-era and specializes in aburi-mochi. "aburi" stands for "grilled" and "mochi" for a rice cake made from glutinous rice powder. As the name suggests, aburi-mochi is a rice cake which has been grilled over hot charcoal after being rolled in kinako (roasted soybean powder) and then coated in a sweet sauce ma