渋谷の東急で飴細工の実演販売を
みかけました。

ちょうどイルカの飴細工を
つくっているところのようです。

様々なデザインの飴細工が並んでいて

美味しそうというよりも
かわいくって目が欲しいと言ってきます。

口がもとめるのではなく
目がもとめる。

それこそ飴細工♪

わぁかわいい(✩´∀`✩)

と

子どもや女性が
どんどん惹きつけられていました。

飴細工は
日本の伝統工芸のひとつですよね。

海外の人にとっては
珍しいのてはないでしょうか。

キャンディーアートとか
キャンディースカルプチュアと言います。

ちょうど
英語で飴細工の説明をしている記事を

ネットでみつけたのて
ちょっと拝借してみます♪

英語の得意な方は
挑戦してみてくださいね。

ちなみに飴細工のお店では
かわいいインコちゃんをツガイで

お持ち帰り～♪

ここから！英語の読解練習です。

Let's try!

Amezaiku the Japanese art of candy sculpture

Amezaiku is a traditional Japanese folk art of sculpting candy into a variety of shapes as animals and other characters.

It is said that even in Japan, there may be only handful people still practice this hundreds year old art form.

Takahiro Mizuki is one of few amezaiku practitioners in Japan.

He can magically sculpt an object like birds, dolphins and other characters, in less than 3 minutes by using a pair of tiny scissors.

"It's some of the most difficult material to work with."

Consider, he says,

"the intense temperature to which sugar syrup must be boiled before being stretched and pulled by hand.

And then there's pressure to work quickly before the sugar cools and hardens."
within 2 minutes.

Sculpting involves many steps.

First, glutinous starch syrup is boiled Candy until it becomes dough like and transparent.

When it's time, the material is heated over charcoal, making the candy very pliable.

Then the material is divided into small portions and pulled and kneaded.

Contact with the air during this process produces a pure white color.

The animal shapes must be formed quickly, using tiny scissors and fingers, at the tip of a chopstick.

The artist pinches, pulls and bends the material creating an animal shape, be it bird, horse or dragon.

Red, yellow and blue food colors are used for decoration.

Originally, amezaiku artisans used only a small amount of candy on the end of a reed stem, and enlarged and shaped it by blowing in air, similar to glass blowing.

And Mr.Miuzki sometimes uses this ancient technique by using a rubber pump instead.

The final product make this art one of the most pleasurable to watch -- and to eat.

Two former U.S. first ladies, Barbara Bush and Hillary Clinton, can attest to the enjoyment and taste of these treats.

飴細工 with English