Botamochi - Rice cake for spring equinox week

Last Friday was the spring equinox day, which is a national holiday in Japan. It is the middle day of a Buddhist event week called higan (we have one also in autumn). During this period, we visit the family grave or other temple. Kamoeji Temple (often called Kamoe Kannon) near the downtown may be the most popular temple for this. It is an old temple founded during the Nara period (710-794). During the World War II, the main building built in the Edo period was burned down. It was rebuilt in 1947 and renovated in 1987. When I was a child, I went to an elementary school near this temple. In fact, I don’t like the main building after the renovation, but I visit there during the spring and autumn equinox weeks every year just because it has been my habit ever since I was very little. There are many stalls selling foods and toys on the premise, which is especially enjoyable for children.

Today I visited the temple early in the morning to avoid a crowd. Usually, I strike the bell and sprinkle water on the statue of Jizo (guardian deity of children) near the pond with a long bamboo ladle used by many people, but I skipped them this time. I just prayed in the main building that the coronavirus would calm down soon. In the afternoon, I took a bus from the bus terminal to another temple to visit the grave. Though the passengers in the bus seemed to be fewer than the previous time, the temple seemed to have visitors as usual because I saw fresh flowers in front of gravestones. On my way back to the downtown, there were only two passengers in the bus. Since I don’t have a car, I need to use public transportation. People like me may go out less frequently than usual because of the coronavirus, but those who have a car and can drive may still enjoy going out relatively freely.

After returning to the downtown, I dropped in a confectionary store Shunkado on Kajimachi Street to look for botamochi. It is a sweet for the spring higan but found all year round in some stores. Since this is the high season of botamochi, it is available in several places in the downtown including some temporary stalls. Basically, it is a rice cake wrapped with adzuki bean paste, but there are some variations. In Shunkado, they were selling three kinds of botamochi wrapped with smooth adzuki bean paste, roasted soybean flour, or chunky adzuki bean paste.

Since each botamochi was big, I chose only the one with roasted soybean flour.

I cut it with a little fork. Because of extraordinary much flour, the cross section isn’t clearly seen, but it was stuffed with chunky adzuki bean paste. The rice cake was made from glutinous rice, which was also chunky. I liked their rough texture very much. At first, I thought the flour was too much, but it was made from black soybeans and had an excellent roasted flavor. It went well with the moderate sweetness of adzuki bean paste.

In Shunkado, botamochi is sold only during the spring higan period that will end tomorrow. Botamochi is named after a spring flower “botan (牡丹)” or a peony. During the autumn higan, we eat a similar kind of sweet called ohagi that is named after “hagi (萩)” or a bush clover. They are sometimes confused, but many of us just enjoy eating them without thinking of the name.