[Mochitsuki Challenge]
At the Shinto Shrine Festival in Nishiokoppe District,
the Women's Association of the Chamber of Commerce tours various neighborhoods with the portable shrine, and after the rituals, they have a tradition of throwing rice cakes to the attendees.

This time, we will introduce the preparation of those rice cakes.

The amount of glutinous rice prepared is a total of 55 kg, combining both white and red rice cakes.
A few members of the Women's Association gathered in the morning to soak the glutinous rice.

After dispersing once, 40 participants gathered at 4 PM for the mochi pounding.
Villagers and cottage guests, in addition to the Women's Association, also joined in!✨️

While a machine is used for the "pounding" part,
the more people there are to quickly finish tasks such as cooking, tearing, shaping, cooling, and bagging, the better.

Once the mochi is pounded, it becomes a race against time.
Starch powder is spread on the work table, and the freshly pounded mochi is quickly torn apart.

Since the mochi is extremely hot,
we put on thick gloves and managed to tear it apart.

Once shaped nicely while still hot, it needs to be cooled down!
If it is bagged without cooling, it will mold, so the cooling process is very important.

Once round, small, and cooled mochi is ready, it is bagged and the process is complete.

Thanks to the wonderful teamwork, all the mochi (about 2,300 pieces!?) were successfully bagged.

After about three hours of focused work, we filled our stomachs with handmade udon and pickles before dispersing.

I feel that these behind-the-scenes tasks add more color to the festival atmosphere.

This big job happens once a year.
I secretly look forward to next year as well.

#Nishiokoppe Village #Mochitsuki #Shinto Shrine Festival #Red and White Mochi #We did our best.