Japan Navigator

[Namagashi shop Kano in Fushimi - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

This namagashi shop near the Otesuji Shopping Arcade in Fushimi (Momoyamagoryo St on the Keihan line in Kyoto) is in full swing to produce mochi (glutinous ricecakes) for the New Year festivities.

They are placed on racks in front of the shop to dry and judging by their size I suppose they are meant to be used as kagamimochi (putting these huge rice cakes in the zoni soup consumed on New Year’s day would be right-out criminal).

Kagamimochi are made from two round mochi cakes with a daidai (bitter orange) on top. The name daidai is auspicious since it has the same sound as the term “generation after generation”.

Kagamimochi means “mirror rice cakes.” The sticky buns may have been so called because the round cakes resemble traditional copper mirrors. The number two symbolizes the going year and the coming year (or Yin and Yang, or the Sun and Moon, depending on the explanation).

It is good to see that real mochi production is still seriously going on in an age when most people buy plastic kagamimochi in the supermarket!