sweet burdock and miso-bean paste covered with a thin layer of mochi（Hanabiramochi)
red bean pastemochi (glutinous rice or other grain, sticky enough to make mochi rice cakes)New Year
A semi-circular mochi cake eaten during the New Year’s holiday. It is made by wrapping a rounded piece of white gyuhi inside a thin, diamond-shaped pink mochi, white miso bean paste, and sweetened burdock root. It is also called hishihanabira mochi. The origin of the name “hishi-hanabiru-mochi” comes from a Heian-period court ceremony called “teething hardening”. In the New Year, there was a custom of eating a sweetfish (salted sweetfish used for New Year’s celebrations) and miso wrapped in rice cake “Zoni” at court to wish for longevity, which later became sweets and eaten at court. The burdock is a substitute for pressed sweetfish, and the diamond shape is a remnant of the shape of New Year’s rice cake. In the Meiji period (1868-1912), Urasenke began to serve it as a confectionery for the first tea ceremony, and it is said to have spread to wagashi shops nationwide.
