Ame-shin, the amezaiku workshop in Tokyo 飴細工アメシン

Amezaiku: sweets over 1,000 years old!

The amezaiku, these sweets with elaborate shapes, would have originated in China and would have been made in Japan from the 8th century , to serve as offerings to the statues of Buddha in the temples of Kyoto , then the capital of the country. Later, in the Edo period (1603-1868), Japanese confectioners invented mizuame (literally "candy"), a starch syrup that made candy making easier and cheaper.

Humans then also had the right to amezaiku and craftsmen prospered . They made their sweets in the streets , at the request of customers, and some of them embellished their demonstration with stories or magic tricks, thus offering a real spectacle much appreciated by the common people. The manufacturing process, passed down from generation to generation, has hardly changed since that time, making amezaiku a true traditional craft object . Currently, there are only about a hundred amezaiku confectioners left.

Also to discover: Asakusa Kagetsudo Bakery

Dexterity and speed: the key words

The starch syrup paste is prepared in advance and then heated to a temperature of approximately 80-90°C. The craftsman then works a small ball of hot dough with his hands ( amezaiku makers all have their hands burned!): he pulls on it, folds it and kneads it until he obtains the right consistency and the desired shine. He then plants his ball on a stick and gives it shape. Once again, he pulls, twists, folds the dough and cuts it with traditional Japanese scissors to form sculptures of animals, fish or any other object requested by customers. And all this must be done in a few minutes before the dough cools completely. A real feat that makes these confectioners artists! Artisans can also make multi-colored candies by mixing artificial colors into the dough.

See also: Kamism Lab, the washi paper workshop

Ame-shin: between tradition and innovation

Ame-shin is an amezaiku factory that settled in Asakusa in 2013 and then opened another shop in the Solamachi shopping complex of the Tokyo Skytree in 2015. Although recent, the house makes its amezaiku by combining traditional and new techniques . processes . Its sweets, including goldfish which has become the brand's flagship product, are true works of art . Shinri Tezuka, the artist-confectioner of Ame-shin, gives demonstrations of his art in the Skytree shop.

Get your hands dirty

Aware of the aesthetic and traditional value of amezaiku , Ame-shin exhibits its confectionery and organizes confectionery workshops . These workshops are in Japanese (with an English instruction manual) and only take place in Asakusa. On the other hand, it is impossible to buy sweets at the workshop, you will have to go to the Solamachi shop. In just under 2 hours, armed with a single pair of scissors, you can learn how to make a sugar bunny . Before starting to make your candy, you can practice with a kind of hot wax (only 2 tries) having about the same consistency as cornstarch syrup . very hot dough in just 3 minutes, before it cools and hardens. It is possible to ask the craftsman to help you at the beginning of the manufacturing process, especially when the dough is hot. Alone, you may not achieve the exact shape of a rabbit, but you will have had the pleasure of learning a thousand-year-old folk art and the satisfaction of saying to yourself " I made it myself! ".