Pounding rice for green tea omochi, Nara.

I know I have featured this practice several times before,
but I think this is a first for photographing green tea flavoured
sticky rice, to make omochi, or sweet rice dumplings.

These rice pounders are hard at it in a sweet shop in Nara,
the old capital of Japan in ancient times.

Comments

[marlof]

Very nice, I like the contrast between still wooden structure, and the fierce movement of the workers.

[Ray Kinnane]

Thanks marlof. This is a very common site during festivals in Japan. Omochi, or
sticky rice dumplings (sweetened and non-sweetened). are very popular in Japan,
and almost universally liked. Interesting though, due to their very glutinous
nature, they prove to be fatal to quite a few older people every year, who
cannot swallow them properly and choke! Very sad.