🍡 Inoko Mochi

The boar, worshipped as the god of agriculture since ancient times, is said to visit in the spring of the second month of the lunar calendar to create rice and barley fields and engage in farming. After completing agricultural work, the boar returns in the autumn of the tenth month of the lunar calendar. In the northern regions where rice cultivation was prosperous, there was a tradition of offering "Inoko Mochi," rice cakes coated with sweet red bean paste, to express gratitude for the harvest on the day of the boar in autumn. In a normal year, 12 "Inoko Mochi" and in a leap year, 13 "Inoko Mochi" are placed in a measuring cup (masu), half of each. In the southern region of the prefecture, "Inoko Mochi" is also made at an autumn festival in the Ayukawa area of Oto Village in Tanabe City. The custom involves offering sake, grilled saury, new rice in a straw bag, daikon radish salad, yuzu, cooked newly harvested rice, and chrysanthemum flowers. This type of mochi is also known as "Innoko Mochi." In the past, there was a tradition where children would visit each house, sing songs, and receive mochi.