Thursday, January 05, 2006

kintaro ame

Have you ever seen this kind of candy? In Japan, it is called "Kintaro ame".

Kintaro (Golden Boy) is a folklore hero. Kintaro ame (candy) has been around since the Edo period.

It is made by layering different colored pieces of candy into a cylindrical face. If you have done crafts with polymer clay (FIMO), you'll know this as making a cane. Anyway, no matter how many times you slice it. The face will always appear. I got this as a gift when I went to buy something at a store. The face isn't of Kintaro, but of a dog since it is the Year of the Dog.

I also got an O-mikuji with the candy. O-mikuji are slips of paper which tell your fortune. These are usually found at shrines and temples. There are different levels of luck from Daikichi = great blessing to Daikyo = great curse.

If your o-mikuji is bad, you should tie it to a pine tree. Pine tree has a play on words, pine means "matsu", "matsu" also means to wait. By tying your bad luck fortune to a matsu (pine tree), the bad luck will "wait" by the tree instead of attaching itself to you. The o-mikuji I got with the candy was kichi = blessing. :)

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