Koshiyama Kanseido (越山甘清堂)

Koshiyama Kanseido has made wagashi in Kanazawa since 1888, when it opened in the Yasue-cho district; the shop has since moved to Owari-cho but has kept the handmade methods it started with, including cultivating its own bean paste rather than buying it in - a step the shop treats as the single most important factor in its flavor. Its best-known item is Kaga Goshiki Namagashi, the five-colored fresh confection developed in the Edo period specifically for Kanazawa weddings and still served at them today, alongside kikatou, the sculpted sugar sweets traditionally displayed for Hinamatsuri, Girls' Day. The everyday range includes Himuro Manju, a steamed bun made using a fermented starter culture passed down within the shop, seasonal nerikiri shaped and colored to match the month, and regional standards like sakura mochi and a lotus-root mochi. A newer offshoot, Kanazawa Dorayaki, extends the same fermented-bean approach into a dorayaki built around fermented azuki paste. Across more than 135 years, the shop has stayed close to its original brief - traditional Kanazawa confections made by hand, tied to the city's specific calendar of weddings and seasonal festivals rather than a generic wagashi lineup sold everywhere in Japan.