Amezaiku (飴細工) is Japanese candy craft artistry.
An artist takes multi-colored taffy
and, using his hands and other tools such as tweezers and scissors,
creates a sculpture. Amezaiku artists also paint their sculpted candy
with edible dyes to give the finished work more character.
Intricate animal and human characters are created with expert
speed.
Some Amezaiku artists are also street performers who perform magic tricks and tell stories along with their candy craft entertainment.
During the Heian period, the art of amezaiku was imported from China and was probably first used in Japan for candy offerings made at temples in Kyoto.[1] The amezaiku craft spread beyond the temple during the Edo period, when many forms of street performance flourished in Japan.[2]
One method formerly used in sculpting amezaiku was blowing into the
candy by means of a straw, similar to glass-blowing. This practice was
eventually prohibited in Japan as unhygienic, although other means of
introducing blown air may be used.[3]
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