🍚 Traditional Mochi Rice Cake Dishes

The southern region of the prefecture has a comparatively warm climate, and has long produced primarily rice, which could be cultivated reliably. In the Edo period, by decree of the Sendai Clan that governed the Ichinoseki and Hiraizumi region, mochi rice cakes were to be made and offered to the gods and Buddha on the 1st and 15th of each month as prayers for peace and good health, with this practice then becoming tradition. In Ichinoseki City there is a custom of eating mochi rice cakes over 60 times throughout the year for each turn of the season or event according to a "mochi calendar". What's more, samurai families would eat a form of ritual meal known as "mochi honzen" (mochi full-course) on ceremonial occasions. The tradition of eating mochi honzen in both times of celebration and sorrow is unique to the Ichinoseki region. Among the seats mochi honzen meals is a facilitator referred to as the "otori mochi yaku" who speaks while advancing the proceedings. There are also manners and rules regarding how the mochi is to be eaten, which are said to be a combination of Ogasawara-ryu etiquette and the teachings of the Shijo-ryu culinary school. Mochi honzen meals include dishes like "zoni" (rice cakes boiled with vegetables) where ingredients such as "zunda" (mashed green soybeans) and "juune" (wild sesame seeds) are used as glazes.