I wanted to become a craftsman after being exposed to wagashi," he said! He set a goal of having his own store by the age of 30 and set up a small workshop in Karabashi, Minami Ward in 2019. He relocated last year and now has a growing fan base nationwide.

It is thanks to instant freezing that I am able to run everything by myself, from development, production, and sales to delivery arrangements. He applies the knowledge he learned while working for a food manufacturer in Tokyo to wagashi. If you freeze them as soon as they arrive, they have a shelf life of about 20 days, and you can enjoy a variety of wagashi by defrosting them little by little," he said, arranging the beautiful wagashi.

Nowadays, he spends more and more time inventing new works for tea ceremonies. I think that if you don't have something that makes people excited, they won't enjoy your work. I don't want to stay in the same place. Even if it looks traditional at first glance, it may have a baked sweet potato filling or a raisin filling. The wagashi of artisans who continue to take on new challenges are filled with the spirit of Kyoto, where the old and the new coexist.