LIHU‘E — Rep. Derek Kawakami’s schedule precluded him from joining everyone else Wednesday at the M. Kawamura Farm Enterprises shop in Pua Loke. But that did not stop him from showing up to create his kine, or wooden mallet, for
LIHU‘E — Rep. Derek Kawakami’s schedule precluded him from joining everyone else Wednesday at the M. Kawamura Farm Enterprises shop in Pua Loke.
But that did not stop him from showing up to create his kine, or wooden mallet, for the mochi-making scheduled for Sunday at the Kawamura household.
“I worked hard to get the head this clean,” Kawakami said. “It’s not as easy as people think. But now that I have it, I think I’m not going to pound so hard.”
Mochi-making is a prelude to enjoying the Japanese traditional rice cake on New Year’s Day. The practice of eating mochi and its associated procedures was brought to Hawai‘i with the Japanese who immigrated to Hawai‘i to labor in the plantations. The tradition has become assimilated into the local lifestyle.
“Most of the people won’t come until after work,” said Lili Kawamura. “Everyone went back to work after Christmas, so from pau hana time, people will be coming in to make their mallets. We have to pay for Christmas.”
Mochitsuki, or the pounding of mochi rice to make mochi, is done at the end of the year, states the Go Japan website.
The process is an all-day event, which requires many hands, long hours and physical labor, but is also a time of fellowship and socializing with friends and family, states the Japanese American National Museum website.
People use a wooden mallet, or kine, to pound steamed mochi rice into the stone or wooden mortar, or usu.
Once proper consistency is reached through the rhythmic pounding by up to three people, it is cut into small pieces and shaped into rounds.
Over the years, prepackaged mochi rice cakes are commonly sold in supermarkets and the introduction of automatic mochi-making machines have resulted in a reduction of the number of homes where mochitsuki is practiced.
Preorder sales for mochi for the Waimea Higashi Hongwanji ended Christmas Eve, but customers must wait until Sunday to pick up their mochi from 9 a.m. to noon.
Rev. Shoryu Akiya of the Kapa‘a Jodo Mission said Sunday most of the church’s members will be making mochi on Saturday because Sunday is too close to New Year’s.
The kagami mochi, or two mochi —one larger than the other — decoration joins the kadomatsu as one of the traditional New Year’s decorations in households.
A mochi soup, or ozoni, is cooked with vegetables and other foods to be enjoyed on New Year’s, partaken by Japanese as the first meal of the new year, necessary for insuring a happy new year to come.
