Although English Parents have seen mochi making by machine they desperately wanted to try the more traditional mallet and dish method.  Luckily, our neighbour invited us to a join their family gathering and do some pounding.  It was perfect timing.
Our neighbour owns a sawmill in Shimobun and it was nice to be surrounded by beautiful cut stacks of wood.  For some reason the smoke from the fire (to boil the water for mochi) was super acrid.  I’ve never wept so much in one day.  Tears streamed down my face fairly regularly and I had to smile lots so that people didn’t think I was sad.

It was strange to be amongst a full family gathering.  Four generations of Konishi san; but everyone seemed to be ok with the fact that there were three awkward foreigners lumbering around the lumber yard.
The wooden mallets (kine) soaked in hot water, probably to help promote the growth of bacteria.  There was water everywhere.  It was a very wet style.  Once the rice had steamed, it got tipped into the granite bowl (usu) and then three burly men mashed it up slightly using the mallets in a kind of grinding motion.

The bowl seemed too small somehow and the other thing was that two of the wooden mallets were square.  It meant that the corners of the wood would splinter during the pounding (when the wood struck the round bowl) and the shards of wood got mixed in with the mochi.  On the plus side, the wood was very soft and actually I didn’t notice any wood in my mochi; how was yours?

So, now the pounding starts.  The pounders stand in a circle and alternate whacking the gloopy mass in the bowl.

If you do it fast it is very exciting!

The mochi has to be wet otherwise the kine stick and then it gets messy and it’s not nice.  Konishi san recalled a time when the kine stuck to the mochi and it lifted right out of the bowl and dropped off onto the floor.  Everyone scrambled around but they made it worse and mixed all kinds of grit and twigs and stuff and I’m sure it was delicious.  It didn’t happen this time because we had a good mochi wetter.  On the downside, wetting the mochi means that with each thwack proteiny water and specks of rice spray in your face and sticks your eyelids together.  English Parent enjoyed carrying around a bento on his tweed suit!

Later we had some curry and rice and sat with the whole family at a giant low table.  It was pretty awkward but really lovely.  English Parents struggled with back ache, chopsticks, language, low ceilings.  Despite all this it was a beautiful time spent with generous and fascinating people.  Thank you!