shikoku -- ++ Making Mochi

s h i k o k u ... m o c h i - 12//30//2005

Making Mochi ---- ONE of my goals for the Great Shikoku Sightseeing Sojourn of 2005/06 was to experience a traditional Japanese New Year. As stated earlier, last year I spent New Years Eve in a sleazedive Roppongi club and while there is nothing wrong with that, this year I wanted to do things different. Luckily for me, my adopted family in Shikoku always celebrate New Years the traditional way -- unlike a lot of Japanese these days who opt out for a vacation to Hawaii, or spend New Years Day eating take-out sushi or even Domino's Pizza. Actually, Pizza Hut now deliver their own New Years Day family meal in Tokyo, which costs an astonishing US$120. But I didn't want to eat anything from Pizza Hut this Japanese New Year. I wanted to do things the old school way.

The grandmother and grandfather of my adopted family were certainly old school in their approach to life -- up every day at 4am to do all the chores that needed to be done, like picking vegetables or making presentations to the gods which lived all around this country house. I decided to emulate them while I was in Shikoku. Well, I knew I would never be able to get up at 4am, but I wanted to enjoy all the clean-living fun of rural Japan -- working in the fields, walking the dog through the bamboo thickets, drinking warm sake under the warm warm kotatsu. On my first full day in Shikoku, I was able to participate in another chore, a particularly sacred one -- the making of mochi rice cakes.

What are mochi rice cakes, exactly, and what do they mean to the Japanese people? Let's go to one of the popular sources of modern times: Wikipedia! On Wikipedia's English site mochi is described thus: "Mochi (Japanese 餅) is the Japanese variant of Chinese rice cake, which, like its Chinese origin, is made of glutinous rice, pounded into paste and molded into shape; however, unlike the Chinese variety, it is molded right after it is pounded, whereas the Chinese variety is baked once again after to solidfy the mixture as well as sanitize it. Traditionally in Japan, it is made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. It may also be made in an automatic mochi machine, similar to a breadmaker. In Korea, a nearly identical food is called duk (also spelled dduk, duek, d'uk, or tteok)." (Ed's note: those Koreans have a knack of giving the same basic food a million different names -- see my Korean Dog Soup Page for more comfirmation of this!)

On the subject of Mochitsuki, which is the ceremony I was blessed to take part in (see the photos on the left) Wikipedia says: "Polished glutinous rice is soaked overnight and cooked (see the top picture: the rice is being steamed in a traditional mushiki here.) The rice is pounded with wooden mallets (kine) in a traditional mortar (usu). Two people will alternate the work, one pounding and the other turning and wetting the mochi. The mochi must be kept wet to keep it from sticking to the mallet. The sticky mass is then formed into various shapes (usually a sphere or cube)."

In the photo bar on the left you can see a particular kind of mochi being made -- grass mochi! Kusa mochi (Japanese: 草餅, literally "grass mochi"), also known as yomogi mochi, is a Japanese sweet, and made not from grass but rather yomogi (mugwort). It may also be filled with red bean paste.

Yes sirree -- they make a lot of things out of mochi in Japan, they even make mochi trees... read on for more information about that:



	s h i k o k u ... m o c h i - 12//30//2005 Making Mochi ---- ONE of my goals for the Great Shikoku Sightseeing Sojourn of 2005/06 was to experience a traditional Japanese New Year. As stated earlier, last year I spent New Years Eve in a sleazedive Roppongi club and while there is nothing wrong with that, this year I wanted to do things different. Luckily for me, my adopted family in Shikoku always celebrate New Years the traditional way -- unlike a lot of Japanese these days who opt out for a vacation to Hawaii, or spend New Years Day eating take-out sushi or even Domino's Pizza. Actually, Pizza Hut now deliver their own New Years Day family meal in Tokyo, which costs an astonishing US$120. But I didn't want to eat anything from Pizza Hut this Japanese New Year. I wanted to do things the old school way. The grandmother and grandfather of my adopted family were certainly old school in their approach to life -- up every day at 4am to do all the chores that needed to be done, like picking vegetables or making presentations to the gods which lived all around this country house. I decided to emulate them while I was in Shikoku. Well, I knew I would never be able to get up at 4am, but I wanted to enjoy all the clean-living fun of rural Japan -- working in the fields, walking the dog through the bamboo thickets, drinking warm sake under the warm warm kotatsu. On my first full day in Shikoku, I was able to participate in another chore, a particularly sacred one -- the making of mochi rice cakes. What are mochi rice cakes, exactly, and what do they mean to the Japanese people? Let's go to one of the popular sources of modern times: Wikipedia! On Wikipedia's English site mochi is described thus: "Mochi (Japanese 餅) is the Japanese variant of Chinese rice cake, which, like its Chinese origin, is made of glutinous rice, pounded into paste and molded into shape; however, unlike the Chinese variety, it is molded right after it is pounded, whereas the Chinese variety is baked once again after to solidfy the mixture as well as sanitize it. Traditionally in Japan, it is made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. It may also be made in an automatic mochi machine, similar to a breadmaker. In Korea, a nearly identical food is called duk (also spelled dduk, duek, d'uk, or tteok)." (Ed's note: those Koreans have a knack of giving the same basic food a million different names -- see my Korean Dog Soup Page for more comfirmation of this!) On the subject of Mochitsuki, which is the ceremony I was blessed to take part in (see the photos on the left) Wikipedia says: "Polished glutinous rice is soaked overnight and cooked (see the top picture: the rice is being steamed in a traditional mushiki here.) The rice is pounded with wooden mallets (kine) in a traditional mortar (usu). Two people will alternate the work, one pounding and the other turning and wetting the mochi. The mochi must be kept wet to keep it from sticking to the mallet. The sticky mass is then formed into various shapes (usually a sphere or cube)." In the photo bar on the left you can see a particular kind of mochi being made -- grass mochi! Kusa mochi (Japanese: 草餅, literally "grass mochi"), also known as yomogi mochi, is a Japanese sweet, and made not from grass but rather yomogi (mugwort). It may also be filled with red bean paste. Yes sirree -- they make a lot of things out of mochi in Japan, they even make mochi trees... read on for more information about that:
	[shikoku -- making mochi] shikoku japan 2005 copyright rob sullivan 1996-2005 and beyond!