Mochi-Tsuki

As part of the same excursion as Chris's Japanese stage debut, we also had the chance to try our hands at mochi-tsuki, or pounding rice with large mallets to make sticky rice cakes.

Basically, cooked rice is placed in a traditional large mortar known as an usu. Then, people gather around to whack the rice with heavy wooden mallets called kine. One person has to flip the mochi and drip some water on it between all the mallet hits. Eventually, the rice becomes one big sticky mass of mochi and is cut into little balls for everyone to eat.



I especially enjoyed participating in this ceremony because we have a video game (Cooking Mama 2 for the Nintendo DS) that includes mochi-tsuki as one of the challenges. After discovering what the real experience is like, the game is much more fun now! :)

A variety of toppings are used on the mochi rice cakes. For example, we had the choice to add red bean paste, finely chopped daikon radish, soy sauce, confectioner's sugar and kinako (soy powder). As you can see, it was pretty delicious!

According to our landlords, this traditional method of making mochi rice cakes is rare nowadays. Most of the commercially available mochi is made by machines. This is understandable, given the considerable amount of effort required to swing the mallets effectively. We were, as usual, very lucky to have had this opportunity!