🍱 Yamato no zoni

In Nara, it is a white miso soup with tofu, festive radish, carrot, taro, and round rice cake, etc. In many areas, the rice cake is taken out of the soup and dipped in soybean flour with sugar. Each ingredient has its own story. Tofu is a symbol of a storehouse with white walls, and is believed to wish for the building of a storehouse. Round rice cakes are used and vegetables are sliced into rounds to ensure that the family can live happily throughout the year. In Nara Prefecture, thin daikon radishes about 3 cm in diameter are sold at the end of the year as "celebratory daikon" to be added to zoni. Also, taro is added as a symbol of prosperity of offspring. In the eastern mountainous areas of Nara Prefecture, taro head (yatsutogashira) is added. The head taro contains the wish "to be able to stand on top of others. The yellow color of the soybean flour is also said to wish for a good harvest of rice.