Sasadango

Often given as a gift by Niigata residents, sasadango (sasa means bamboo leaves, and dango means dumpling) are made of mugwort-flavored sticky rice and red bean paste, wrapped in a few bamboo leaves, with each one then tied around with a few strands of rush grass. Various hypotheses have been offered as to the origin of sasadango; one suggestion is that the famed warlord Uesugi Kenshin carried these as preserved food when making his way to battle during the Warring States period (1467-1568).