Kagizen Yoshifusa Shijo Main Branch

Kagizen is one of Kyoto’s oldest and most famous sweet shops. Inside this traditional tearoom, the walls are decorated with old pastry moulds, and diners are given hoji-cha (Japanese green tea) and rakugan, a snack made with powdered sugar and rice flour, to eat while looking over the menu. The shop is well-known for its kuzukiri, which are cold arrowroot noodles served with sweet black sugar for dipping.

One of the best is Kagizen Yoshifusa in Gion, whose serene tea room and authentic sweets will transport you right back to ancient Kyoto for less than US$10. It’s also possible to find cheaper, mass-produced wagashi in convenience stores and grocery stores.

Since its establishment in the early 1700s, Kegizen Yoshifusa has been a purveyor to a ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurant), and a Minami-za (The oldest theater in Japan, Kabuki originates in this theater.) in the Geisha district of Gion, Kyoto. Their signature dessert is “Kuzukiri” which is a noodle-shaped food made by dissolving Kuzu (arrowroot) flour in water, putting it in a mold, heating it, and hardening it into a board shape, then cutting it into long thin pieces like udon. You then eat it by dipping in brown sugar syrup.

They have continued making Kyogashi (Kyoto sweets) at the corner of Kyoto’s Hanamachi, the stylish district of Gion. Like the numerous long-established sweet shops in Kyoto, the sweets have been offered to common shoppers, the “Chajin” (tea connoisseur) and temple priests alike, but being situated in Gion, our sweets have been enjoyed widely in sphere of the cultured writers, artists, and patrons, along with the women of the Hanamachi.

In a city filled with many dessert spots, Kagizen Yoshifusa is the best place to head for traditional Kyoto desserts and a cup of matcha. First-timers to Kagizen must try its highly-rated Kuzukiri (¥900) – translucent noodles made from arrowroot that is eaten with a sweet brown syrup. You can also take home with you some wagashi (traditional Japanese confectionery) at its retail shop.

This Gion cafe is a long-established Wagashi (Japanese traditional sweets)shop. On the first floor, there is a tea shop in the back where guests can enjoy Kuzukiri (Japanese traditional summer dessert) made from kudzu root powder. Kuzukiri is kept in ice water throughout the year and is served with kuromitsu (brown sugar sauce).

Kyo ryori, or Kyoto cuisine, is renowned for its elegance and beauty. One of the types of food this is most apparent in are the traditional Japanese sweets known as wagashi. Kagizen Yoshifusa is an authentic teahouse in Gion that serves thick, perfectly-whisked matcha tea accompanied by these artistic sweets.

Kagizen Yoshifusa is a traditional sweet shop in the heart of Kyoto. This restaurant is a must try for traditional sweets and Japanese special thick matcha tea. Kagizen is Kyoto’s oldest and most admired tea and sweet shops.

I never ever ate that nifty and spectacular sweets in my life before. This place totally blew my mind and I never was into sweet stuff that much. Its pretty hard to think of anything even close to that matcha perfection.

You can find this shop on the main shopping street in Gion, and there’s often a line of tourists in front of it, all waiting to get to taste Kagizen Yoshifusa Honten’s famous arrowroot noodles.

Next on the best places to visit in Kyoto for Japanese food is Kagizen. Tea is big in Japan. I mean, they are almost obsessed with it!