Filed under: mochi

Mochi pounding (Day 15)

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Mochi pounding at the 2011 Honbushin New Year Mochitsuki Festival.

Mochi pounding is the biggest event of the New Year’s celebration in Hawaii. Rice and water are pounded with a kine–a big hammer, while another leans in to knead with hand–until the mixture becomes the chewy, glutinous substance known as mochi (a delicious sticky rice cake). The sequence demands precision as the kneading is done swiftly between hammer strikes on the wetted bed of rice.

Location: Honbushin International Center, Mililani

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Posterous theme by Cory Watilo