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Mochi Tsuki Festival

January 7, 2023 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Date: Saturday, January 7, 2023
Time: TBD
Location: Woodward Middle School
9125 Sportsman Club Rd NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
For over a millennium, making and eating the sweet rice treat mochi (moe-chee) has been a celebrated New Year’s tradition in Japan, with generations of families and communities coming together to wish good health and prosperity for the new year.

Join the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community (BIJAC) at the annual Mochi Tsuki Festival.

Highlights include performances from the acclaimed Seattle taiko drum group Kokon Taiko, a mochi making presentation, and a pictoral history of the award-winning exhibit “Kodomo No Tameni – For the sake of the children.”

BIJAC members will prepare some batches of mochi in the centuries-old method of first steaming the sweet rice over an open fire, then placing the cooked rice into a warm stone or concrete bowl called an usu. Using large wooden mallets, two people rhythmically pound the rice in the usu, while with bare hands a third person swiftly moves the rice between each mallet crash.

After several minutes of vigorous pounding, the rice becomes a thick, smooth dough – mochi. From manual pounding in the usu or special mochi-making appliances, the mochi is removed and children of all ages hand form the steaming-hot mochi into small handball-sized cakes, filling some of them with a sweet bean paste called ahn.

While arguably mochi is best eaten hot and fresh, many enjoy roasting it in the oven, then dipping the puffy and crisp hot mochi cakes into a combination of sugar and soy sauce. For future enjoyment, mochi can be frozen in airtight bags.

You can experience the tradition of mochi tsuki (moe–chee sue–key) or “mochi–making” first hand. Pound rice and make mochi cakes along with the mochi masters.

This event is free and no pre-registration is required.

Learn more at the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community website.

Details

Date:
January 7, 2023
Time:
8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Venue

Woodward Middle School
9125 Sportsman Club Rd NE
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 United States
+ Google Map
Website:
https://www.bainbridgeisland.com/mochi-tsuki-festival/

Date: Saturday, January 7, 2023
Time: TBD
Location: Woodward Middle School
9125 Sportsman Club Rd NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
For over a millennium, making and eating the sweet rice treat mochi (moe-chee) has been a celebrated New Year’s tradition in Japan, with generations of families and communities coming together to wish good health and prosperity for the new year.

Join the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community (BIJAC) at the annual Mochi Tsuki Festival.

Highlights include performances from the acclaimed Seattle taiko drum group Kokon Taiko, a mochi making presentation, and a pictoral history of the award-winning exhibit “Kodomo No Tameni – For the sake of the children.”

BIJAC members will prepare some batches of mochi in the centuries-old method of first steaming the sweet rice over an open fire, then placing the cooked rice into a warm stone or concrete bowl called an usu. Using large wooden mallets, two people rhythmically pound the rice in the usu, while with bare hands a third person swiftly moves the rice between each mallet crash.

After several minutes of vigorous pounding, the rice becomes a thick, smooth dough – mochi. From manual pounding in the usu or special mochi-making appliances, the mochi is removed and children of all ages hand form the steaming-hot mochi into small handball-sized cakes, filling some of them with a sweet bean paste called ahn.

While arguably mochi is best eaten hot and fresh, many enjoy roasting it in the oven, then dipping the puffy and crisp hot mochi cakes into a combination of sugar and soy sauce. For future enjoyment, mochi can be frozen in airtight bags.

You can experience the tradition of mochi tsuki (moe–chee sue–key) or “mochi–making” first hand. Pound rice and make mochi cakes along with the mochi masters.

This event is free and no pre-registration is required.

Learn more at the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community website.