Mochitsuki is pounding rice to make it into mochi. It’s a traditional Japanese thing to do in the new year season. My friend invited me to join her family for this event on new year’s eve. I’m happy that they include me in these events.
After pounding the rice, it has to be rolled out to “rest”.
I enjoyed talking with my friend and her family and have been eating the delicious mochi they sent me home with!
Friday morning I got up at 4 am, so that I could walk about an hour and a half from my apartment to Miho Matsubara to see the first sunrise of the year. Watching the first sunrise is one of the lucky things to do in Japan. (Blogger is not letting me load the photos in the order I want, sorry).
There were a lot of people, but the beach area is big, so I was able to keep my distance from others. There were families and dogs and groups of friends. Some people were taking photos with tripods, others with phones. There were campfires and people with blankets. I walked around and saw Mt. Fuji and the waves and the sunrise. It was an amazing way to spend the first morning of the year.
My friend kindly invited me to join her family on New Year's Eve morning for mochitsuki, the pounding of rice to make mochi. This is a Japanese tradition around the new year.
First the rice was cooked.
Then it was put into the large wooden mortar, called usu.
The rice is alternately pounded with a wooden mallet, called kine, and turned. Experts can do this very fast with no one getting hurt. Since my friend and I are not experts and we didn't want to hit her father, we paused for the turning.
When it was pounded enough, my friend and her mother removed the stitcky pounded rice from the usu and brought it to the kitchen.
After it "rested" a bit, we ate some with sweet red beans.
They send me home with a big chunk. (I've eated it with spicy salsa, and with apples and cinnamon.) I am very thankful to have been able to take part in this Japanese tradition. Thank you, Yumi!
The stitch group met last Sunday, the first time in the new year. First we had some show and tell from our last project - the finished felt wrist pincushions.
This session's project was a fob made with a piece of ribbon and the beaded edging technique.
This is a photo of our mostly finished fobs, to be finished at home.
As it was the new year, our hostess made the traditional new year food with mochi and sweet beans. Oishii!
