🍱 Nara chameshi
The "Omizutori" ceremony held every March at Todaiji Temple has a history of more than 1,200 years, and the original chahan (rice with green tea), called "gecha," is served along with tea porridge in the menu for the procession of participants. Chahan originated in Nara, but did not spread widely among the common people. Travelers who liked chahan brought it back to Edo (present-day Tokyo), and many Nara chahan stores were established near Sensoji Temple in Edo (present-day Tokyo), serving "Nara-cha" markers to attract customers. It became even more famous when it appeared in Jippensha Ikku's "Tokaido Chu Hizakurige" (The Middle Knee-High Tale of the Tokaido Highway). Chahan became widely known throughout Japan because of its well-balanced nutritional diet of rice and soybeans, and because it was easy on the stomach. It is said that it began to spread again in Nara after the Meiji period .