Karagashi

Karagashi (唐菓子, “Tang confections”) arrived in Japan during the Nara period (710 to 794), brought back by kentoshi, diplomatic missions sent to Tang-dynasty China roughly every twenty years. Made from kneaded rice, wheat, soybean, and azuki flour, sweetened with miso and fried in oil, karagashi predates the word “wagashi” by well over a thousand years and was originally used as an offering at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples rather than an everyday treat. It only became a fixture at aristocratic banquets during the Heian period that followed.