We had
been walking a long way, so we sat down to watch some entertainment. While we
were watching a woman singing, the performers for the next act recognized us
from the Bon Odori a few weeks ago and were happy to see us.
After
their dance act, three of them without their masks and scarves posed for a picture
with us.
We met
up with some more people we know, which is one of the great things about living
here.
The
rice is pounded on a huge platform at the intersection of two streets
downtown. Four ropes and about 200
people raise the pounder, then on signal everyone lets go and it smashes down
on the rice.
It is a
bit scary and we were told the ambulance has to take people away every year.
After the rice is pounded enough, it is carried away to be prepared to give out
to the festival goers. Everyone there
can get in line to get a bowl for free, but people who help with the pounding
get a ticket to go to the head of the line. The mochi is served in a bowl with
red beans on top.
2 comments:
Interesting. Glad to hear you are enjoying the cultural festivities.
I've never seen mochi being pounded by such huge mallet, rope, winch and pulley. In our family we used to hand pound rice twice every year, for the local festival and before the year end. Then we had mochi to eat for a week - and no ticket needed to get first in line!!! I hope you will attend many more festivals while in Japan.
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