Look at these Nerikiri Wagashi! I learned how to make them from my wagashi teacher Antomo-sensei’s online lesson.
I started being interested in making traditional Japanese sweets, Wagash, around 2016. Back then, the main resources that I could use to learn about Wagashi were from recipes on the internet, learning from Youtube videos, and Wagashi books that I ordered from Japan. I wish I could have learned Wagashi at in-person class, but there weren’t available.
After the Covid era, online learning has became a huge thing and I have been able to learn Wagashi even while overseas.
In my opinion, there are only positive side about e-learning. If you have access to the internet, you can learn subjects that you love from your favorite teacher from anywhere. I think this is such a blessing and I feel really grateful for the time that I am living in.
Since this January, I have been taking online lessons from Antomo-sensei. She is from Miyazaki prefecture, Japan and is very well known as a Wagashi teacher from Kyushu island, southern Japan.
Her website is written all in Japanese (the link is listed below), but I hope you can see some of her Wagashi pictures. She is so talented!!
She teaches her lessons in Japanese, but if you are interested, this is her Instagram:
The main reason that why I wanted to learn from Antomo-sensei was that I wanted to know how she gets her ideas on making designs for Nerikiri Wagashi. I feel like I’m always busy and don’t have enough time to work on my original designs for Nerikiri, so I really wanted to learn how she does that.
I have finished her 3 lessons so far, which is a halfway done to complete the whole course.
Aren’t they so beautiful and cute…!?
During her first lesson, I learned how to wrap the filling (yes, there is a small filling of sweet bean paste in the cute Nerikiri Wagashi) and how to properly take care of tools for making Wagashi, etc. I couldn’t stop taking a lot of notes since it had been long time since I learned the basics. It was a great opportunity to learn again.
With this teacher, if you have to miss one of her classes, you can learn anytime from the recorded videos that the teacher always sent after the lesson. Actually, I missed one of the lessons because I was in Japan temporarily for our family trip. I took the lesson by watching the video while at home in China after we came back from the trip. My teacher always responds fast and gave me a lot of advice on my questions, which I really appreciated.
During the online lesson, you can see the teacher’s hands on the screen from her angle very clearly, and also from the viewpoint of the teacher so that she can give me very specific advice and tips on how I should how to create wagashi like her by moving my tool or hands.
I have been learning Wagashi online from the US, the Philippines, and China, but I have never had major internet issues.
This is a textbook all in color in which Antomo-sensei’s put all her knowledge.
I love this textbook because it also has color charts that can be used for making different colors of Nerikiri sweet paste and different flavors of anko, sweet bean paste. Antomo-sensei loves to share her knowledge generously, so I feel that I get a lot of ideas from her and what I can make next from these designs, etc.
That’s why it’s so fun!
I am so excited about the original designs that I want to make. I feel like making designs with my memories from living in China, or maybe I should get advice from Antomo-sensei! I will share on my blog what kind of designs of Nerikiri Wagashi I made after I finish this online course!
Thank you for reading my blog!
sachiwagashi.com 