The Shiba Inu once again shows up where we’d least expect it, makes us smile.

Mitarashi dango are one of Japan’s favorite traditional sweets. As pictured above, they’re bite-sized dumplings made with sticky rice flour, skewered and served with a sweet, sticky glaze.

Their name is a bit of an oddity, though. Sure, “dango” just means “dumplings,” but “mitarashi” usually refers to the purifying water at the front of Shinto shrines. One theory is that the round shape of the dumplings is supposed to be evocative of water bubbles, but Japanese Twitter user Nao decided to whip up a batch of mitarashi dango that look like something else entirely…

…dog butts.

Specifically, those are Shiba Inu booties, which is only fitting seeing how the Shiba Inu’s mix of dopey grins and fearless curiosity has made it the Japanese Internet’s favorite breed.

Now granted, half of those dumplings are adorable Shiba Inu faces. But that still leaves half that are admittedly cute Shiba backsides, complete with tiny tails and even edible buttholes made with short strips of dried nori seaweed, which is also used to create their facial features.

▼ The step-by-step

This isn’t Nao’s only foray into animal-inspired dumplings. She’s also created dango bunnies and seals.

And for larger-scale artistic endeavors in the medium of food, she’s dressed up bread rolls dusted with flower as pandas and teddy bears.

But we’d say the Shiba Inu dumplings are her masterpiece so far, and now we can’t help wondering if it would somehow be possible to apply the concept to Häagen-Dazs’ mitarashi walnut ice cream.

Source: Twitter/@england618 (Nao)
Top image: Wikipedia/Ocdp
Insert images: Twitter/@england618 (1, 2, 3)
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