Ginbou
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ginbō is a wagashi (Japanese sweet). It looks just like a dried persimmon, and can be made by filling gyuuhi (also spelled gyūhi, a soft form of mochi) with bean jam, then sprinkling white sugar over it.
In the time when sugar was still a thing of great value, dried persimmon, made by drying an astringent persimmon (Japanese: shibugaki), was a precious sweetener, and it was a very common thing, used in all families. This wagashi was made in those times to show this fine fruit, and since then it has become one of the most familiar wagashi to the people in Japan. The name ginbō is now used to mean dried persimmon, but it also reminds us of Ginboen, a famous Japanese garden in Kyoto.