🍡 Gohei Mochi
"Gohei-mochi" is made by skewering half-pounded Uruchi rice(short-grain rice), dipping it in miso or soy sauce-based sauce, and baking it. It is a local dish of the Kiso and Ina regions, as well as the mountainous Chubu region of Gifu, Toyama, Aichi, and Shizuoka prefectures. It comes in a variety of shapes, including waraji-shaped, koban-shaped, tubular, and dumpling-shaped. Bordered by the Nakasendo Highway, its shape is largely divided into the dumpling shape in the north and the waraji (Japanese slippers) shape in the south, and it is said that there are about 10 different types when subdivided into smaller ones. There are various theories about the origin of the dumplings, including that the shape of the dumplings resembles the "gohei" offered in Shinto rituals, that a man named Gohei (or Gohee) mashed rice and ate it with miso paste, and that an old man who came over the mountain pass from Mino Province to Iida about 400 years ago handed down the rice, and his name was "Gohei". The origin of "Gohei-mochi" is not clear, but it is said to have already existed around the middle of the Edo period (1603-1868). The "Gohei-mochi" culture is distributed along the "salt road," with Shiojiri City as the border. Oyaki culture has taken root in the Hokushin area, while "Gohei-mochi" is eaten mainly in the Kiso and Nanshin areas. Ina area is warm and has many bamboo thickets, so bamboo skewers are often used to skewer rice. On the other hand, in the Kiso region, it is said that in the past, people used skewers made of Japanese cypress, which is one of the five trees in Kiso, which shows the difference in the natural environment. "Gohei-mochi" used to be eaten as a dish for special occasions because rice was precious in the old days, and "gohei-mochi" was a great treat in those days. It was so delicious that it was said that one person could eat 15 rice bowls worth of Gohei Mochi, which spawned the term “Gohei Gongou” to express its deliciousness (in Japanese five is go). The sauce varies from region to region and from household to household. Soy sauce or miso-based sauce is used, and depending on the season, sesame, sansho (Japanese pepper), yuzu (citrus fruit), or other seasonings are added. Walnut miso, made by grinding walnuts, a specialty of Shinshu, is a representative flavor, and its simple seasoning is typical of Shinshu.