干菓子 Higashi

Are a type of dry, often pressed sweets and sugar cakes, and contain very little moisture, only 10% or less, and thus keep relatively longer than other kinds of wagashi. Many Higashi are made only with sugar and rice flour, often also from wasabon, Japanese premium fine-grained sugar made with traditional method.Higashi made with wasabon are commonly regarded as finest ones.

Higashi groups are:

打ち物 Uchi mono

Uchimono are pressed sweets, small sugar cakes made from rice flour like kanbaiko and high quality sugars. There are many different colours and shapes, mostly seasonal plants and sceneries.
落雁 Rakugan also belong to uchimono. Rakugan are hard, pressed sweets made of roasted rice flour mixed with sugar. They can be pressed in beautiful small moulds to get seasonal patterns.

掛け物 Kake mono

Sweets like 金平糖 Konpeitou, this are small candies about the size of a finger tip, some describe them as star-shaped, but they are more like small mines, with sugar spikes on them. At the core is a roasted rice kernel. There are many shapes and tastes, picture: Matcha Konpeitou.

焼き物 Yaki mono

Baked Wagashi like sweet senbai, rice cracker, also baked Yatsuhashi belong to this category.

飴物 Ame mono

All kinds of firm sugar candies like 有平糖 Aruheitō.

押し物 Oshi mono