* = “MOCHITSUKI” Traditional Japanese Mochi-Pounding Ceremony.
While eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food served during Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time. Shoichi Sugiyama of Bellevue, a native of Japan, is a mochi-pounding expert who performs at community and corporate events throughout the Puget Sound region. Help Shoichi and his troupe keep the beat as they swing heavy kine (wooden mallets) used to pound the cooked rice inside a huge usu (traditonal stone mortar). Pounders keep a steady rhythm as another member of the troupe swiftly flips the dough by hand between each crash of the mallets. Pounding the glutenous rice creates the sticky dough used to make mochi. The chewy rice cakes are a traditional Japanese New Year treat. Audience members can sample a taste of mochi after each of the three performances scheduled throughout the day.
