Uiro(Uirou)
Rice or glutinous rice flour is mixed with sugar and water, kneaded, and steamed in a mold. Some gairo are made with kudzu flour or bracken flour, and are a specialty of Nagoya, Yamaguchi, Odawara, and other areas. It is usually made into necklaces, but it is also used as the dough for other wagashi such as mizunashi, eaten on June 30 during the summer purification ceremony called “Nagoshi-no-harae”.
The name comes from the name of a phlegm-cutting pill introduced from China in the Muromachi period (1336-1573). It is said that the name was given because the shape and color of the pill resembled the confectionery gairo, or because it was used as a mouthwash for the pill.
