Kashōchodai (嘉祥頂戴) ended with the Meiji Restoration, and the tradition of eating sweets on July 16th all but vanished.
Then, in 1979, 'Wagashi-no-hi' (和菓子の日) was established by the 'Japan Wagashi Association' (全国和菓子協会) to celebrate Japanese confectionery.
An official document of 1818 states that 20,000 individual sweets were prepared in Edo Castle (江戸城) for this single day!
Guests queued for hours to receive their sweets.
Naturally there was symbolism in this act....
As it was the 16th day, Ninmyō made an offering of 16 kinds of sweets and mochi (餅) to the gods.
The appearance of a white turtle in Bungo Province (豊後国) seemed to confirm that the prayers had worked, and so the emperor changed the era name to Kashō (嘉祥 'good augury'-848-51).
Naturally there was symbolism in this act....
The characters for confectionery/sweets '菓子' (kashi) were also a homonym for '下賜' (kashi), which meant the giving of something to a person of lower social standing than you.
This act of giving sweets reaffirmed hierarchical ties and subservience to the shōgunate.
