Tanabata: Crochet Sakubei Amigurumi・七夕の和菓子: かぎ針編み索餅

July 7th is Tanabata, the colourful summer festival in Japan best known for celebrating the annual meeting of the celestial lovers Orihime and Hikoboshi, as they cross the bridge of magpies, the Milky Way or the Heavenly River (Amanogawa天の川) as the Japanese call it. This legend is a common subject in Japanese poetry, such as this waka by 7th century Japanese poet Kakimoto no Hitomaru:

一年に　七日の夜のみ　逢ふ人の　恋も過ぎねば　夜は更けゆくも
[一云　尽きねば　さ夜ぞ明けにける]　(『万葉集』第10巻2032番歌)

Once in a whole year / only on the seventh night / a tryst with my love / our affection exceeds / the advancing night
[Alas! dawn is here / and our time has run out] (Man'yōshū Book 10 Poem 2032)

For me personally, July 7th has extra significance as the day is my wedding anniversary. Also, Tanabata was originally a festival to pray for excellence in artistic and crafting skills, and is thus very apt as I like to crochet and sew, and just enjoy various crafts in general.

To commemorate Tanabata, July’s wagashi amigurumi is inspired by sakubei索餅. During the Heian period, this fried confection was customarily served on Tanabata to ward off illness and presented to household altars and Shinto shrines as shinsen神饌, namely food for the gods. It appears that this custom is largely no longer observed now. I've not seen sakubei sold or readily available on my trips to Japan but I learnt that it is still made at home by some.

Crochet sakubei for Tanabata, matched with a yukata with morning glory motifs I found in Tokyo in summer 2015 (on IG).
The morning glory, asagao (朝顔) in Japanese, was once called kengyū (牵牛), after its Chinese name qiān niú, also another name for Hikoboshi.

The origins of Tanabata lie in the ancient Chinese festival Qixi七夕, which traditionally falls on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. Hence, the festival is also known as the Double Seventh to the Chinese and is still largely observed on the lunar calendar date. As such, the actual day generally falls in August. In ancient Japan, it was known as Shichiseki no Sekku七夕節句, one of the Gosekku五節句 observed by the Japanese Imperial court. The festival was originally associated with Kikkōden乞巧奠, a Chinese festival that was introduced to Japan in 755AD by Empress Kōken. Court nobles would wish for excellence in artistic and crafting skills, i.e. skills in music, calligraphy (penmanship), weaving, sewing or crafting. Over time, the festival merged with various Japanese customs and rituals, and eventually became widely celebrated by the general public during the Edo era, resulting in Tanabata as it is known today.

Like Tanabata, the origin of sakubei is also Chinese. Sakubei is a type of tougashi唐菓子 or karakudamono唐果物, meaning it is a confection that was introduced to Japan through Japanese envoys returning from Tang dynasty China during the 7th to 9th centuries. The word 唐 (read as tou or kara) refers to the Tang Empire, Táng cháo 唐朝 in Chinese. The ancestor of sakubei may have been the mahua麻花, a fried Chinese pastry that has also made its way to our region of Southeast Asia centuries ago via Chinese traders and settlers. It is known here by its original Chinese name mahua and its Indonesian name kue untir untir or kue tambang.

Sakubei, fried dough twists, said to be the origin of somen noodles. Photo credit: Maruyama Chie on Shun Gate.

Sakubei is made by kneading wheat flour and rice flour with water and salt. The dough is then stretched and twisted into the shape of a twisted rope, then fried in oil. As it is shaped like a twisted rope, sakubei is also called muginawa麦縄, which literally means wheat rope or wheat cord. In the past, sakubei was unsweetened as sugar was an imported luxury commodity. That has since changed and sakubei today often has sugar mixed into the dough or is dusted with sugar.

Well, this crochet version has no sugar. I initially wanted to stitch on clear seed beads on them to make it like they were dusted in sugar but decided against doing that. The last time I did that, I got super carried away and literally covered the amigurumi with seed beads! This crochet sakubei is just made of cotton yarn and poly fibrefill stuffing.

I made this crochet sakubei by modifying the Twisted Bread crochet pattern by Normalynn Ablao of Copacetic Crocheter. I reduced the number of rounds and the number of stitches in each round to make a shorter, slimmer version. It's an easy pattern, though it did require some dexterity with the twisting and when joining the two tubes together. Definitely plan to make the twisted bread as per the original Copacetic Crocheter pattern on another occasion.

Crochet sakubei for Tanabata (on IG).

Sakubei is also considered the origin of somen, the latter is said to have evolved into its present-day form in Sakurai, Nara. This may be a reason why somen is another food traditionally eaten on Tanabata. Another possible reason is that somen came to replace the yarns that were traditionally offered at the Imperial court during the festival. Yarns (particularly silk and cotton) were luxury items that were generally out of reach for the general populace at the time, and it is believed that somen replaced these yarn offerings.

Well, this month I stocked up on yarn stash and the new skeins arrived yesterday. Most of them are earmarked for crochet projects that I intend to make as gifts. Maybe I'll dedicate these skeins to Orihime and pray for better crafting and sewing skills!

Anyway. Since I started this post with a famous Japanese waka on the theme of Tanabata, I thought it'd be apt to also end it with a famous Chinese ci詞 along the same theme by Song dynasty poet Qin Guan (秦观):

鹊桥仙

纤云弄巧，飞星传恨，银汉迢迢暗渡。
金风玉露一相逢，便胜却人间无数。
柔情似水，佳期如梦，忍顾鹊桥归路。
两情若是久长时，又岂在朝朝暮暮。

There are several translations of this poem. One of my favourite translations is by Qiu Xiaolong (I enjoy his Inspector Chen series). But I’m going to quote this simpler one instead (source):

Immortals at the Magpie Bridge

Clouds float like works of art, stars shoot with grief at heart.
Across the Milky Way, the Cowherd meets the Maid.
When Autumn's Golden Wind embraces Dew of Jade,
All the love scenes on earth, however many, fade.
Their tender love flows like a stream, their happy date seems but a dream.
How can they bear a separate homeward way?
If love between both sides can last for aye,
why need they stay together night and day?

If I was asked which poem I prefer, it'd be difficult but I'd go with Qin Guan's beautiful poem. The last verse is more famous than the poem itself, and is often seen as expressing the idea of steadfast, faithful love or deep affection. From personal experience, it is indeed difficult to maintain a long distance relationship and certainly takes much commitment. That said, it can be rather sad and lonely and I can't help but feel for the two lovers. I am sure that with such a long separation, their longing for each other surely cannot be expressed in just one night!

Materials and Tools:

• Pattern: Modified Twisted Bread crochet pattern by Normalynn Ablao of Copacetic Crocheter. Modifications include reducing the number of rounds and the number of stitches in each round to make a shorter, slimmer version.
• Yarn: Scheepjes Catona No.179 Topaz
• 2.5mm crochet hook
• Poly fibrefill stuffing