candy sculpture; shaped candy
Traditional Japanese craft of shaping heated candy into figures of animals, people, etc.
At the festival, a candy sculptor was making a dragon.
deceptive appearance; all show; paper tiger
Figurative use: something that looks impressive but lacks substance. Often used in set phrases like 飴細工のような.
His plan is like a paper tiger—all show and no substance.
Standard kanji spelling.
Mixed kana-kanji spelling, sometimes used for readability.
Compound of 飴 (ame, 'candy') and 細工 (saiku, 'craftsmanship'). The figurative sense derives from the idea of something that looks elaborate but is easily broken, like candy.