🍡 Gohei-mochi
A local dish made by shaping mashed rice around a skewer, dipping it in sauce, and grilling it. It is mainly eaten in the Kiso and Ina regions of Nagano Prefecture, the eastern part of the Tono region of Gifu Prefecture, and the Mikawa region of Aichi Prefecture. It is said to have originated in the mid-Edo period, when lumberjacks in and around the Kiso area, located between the Central Alps and the Ontake mountain range in Nagano Prefecture, used to eat rice that was shaped around wood pieces from cut lumber, which was grilled on a bonfire and seasoned with miso paste. Eventually, gohei-mochi came to be offered to the gods to pray for safe work in the mountains, and was also used as offerings and eaten at harvest celebrations and other festive occasions. It is generally held that the name was derived from its resemblance in shape to a gohei, a small oval shaped paper money offered to the gods, but there is also a theory that it was first served to soldiers by a Mino native named Gohei during the Battle of Kawanakajima between Shingen Takeda and Kenshin Uesugi in the mid-16th century.