Mochi and Yokai

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- KAPPAPEDIA - Yokai Monsters -
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- Mochi 餅 rice cakes and 妖怪　Yokai monsters -

Mochi are used in many kinds of food, from soup to sweets. Mochi can be grilled, fried, and simmered.
The Japanese have traditionally believed that all material things are imbued with spirits, and so by partaking of the rice mochi - thought to symbolize the spirit of rice - they hoped to gain the strength of these rice divinities for themselves.

Some legends and episodes involve the rich imaginary world of Yokai monsters.

. mochi 餅 rice cakes, Reiskuchen .
- Introduction -




chikara mochi yokai ちからモチ妖怪 "Power Rice Cake"
from the Yokai Watch
- source : yokaiwatch.wikia.com -

- - - - - not to mix with
Chikaramochi Yurei 力持ち幽霊 The Strong Ghost
- source : hyakumonogatari.com -



. botamochi ぼた餅 牡丹餅 "peony rice cakes" .

. kusamochi くさ餅 mugwort rice cakes .


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. Benkei no Chikaramochi 三井寺名物「弁慶の力餅」 .


. Jizo Bosatsu and Mochi rice cakes 地蔵と餅 .

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..................................................... Miyagi 宮城県 .....................................................

awamochi 粟餅を食った地蔵様 Jizo Bosatsu eating Millet Mochi




Once upon a time,
the kind and honest 正兵衛 Shobei and the greedy 慾兵衛 Yokubei lived in a village. The poor Shobei, who could not afford Mochi made from white rice, pounded some of millet and offered it to the deities.
His neighbour Yokubei was quite rich and pounded white Mochi.
Shobei wanted to make some offerings to the Jizo statue by the river, so he put some Millet Mochi in his bag and took a bucket to get New Year's Water by the river. He walked along the river, but when he wanted to put the Mochi up as an offering for Jizo, he could not find them any more. They must have slipped out of his pocket somehow, so he apologized profoundly to Jizo.
And well, Jizo answered:
"I just ate your Mochi which have come floating past. They were quite delicious!"
When Shobei looked more closely, he could see some powder around the mouth of the Jizo statue.
So Shobei thanked Jizo with all his heart and went home.
On the way home his bucked suddenly felt very heavy and when he looked inside at his home, he found that it was filled with small and large gold coins.
When Yokubei heard the story from Shobei, he got all envious and went down to the river himself. He stuffed some of his white Mochi into the mouth of the statue and then hurried home.
But his bucket was filled with heavy stones and horse excrements . . .

. Legends about Jizo Bosatsu - 地蔵菩薩 - .



..................................................... Nagano 長野県 .....................................................

For people who have died without relatives (muenbotoke 無縁仏) people float offerings of Mochi and rice in the river to protect themselves from water accidents.
One day when Uwabami ウワバミ (a huge serpent-monster) wanted to eat a child, people threw Mochi at them and saved it that way.

yamakagachi, ja, senja - python
- tba source : www.blackdrago.com

- quote -
蟒蛇 Uwabami
..... The name uwabami has roots going back to archaic Japanese. The first part of the name, uwa, meant skillful or superior. Gradually this shifted to a similar sounding word, uha, which meant great or large. The second part of the name is from an archaic word for snake, hami. This word derives from the word for eating, hamu, which refers both to the snake’s fondness for biting and its ability to eat things that appear much larger than it. So uwabami were “skillful eaters” which over time became “giant snakes.”
Another linguistic point of interest is
that the word “uwabami” also has the colloquial meaning of “heavy drinker.” The reason for this is the uwabami’s great love for sake and its ability to drink in far alcohol more than even a creature as large as it should be able to.
A famous tale comes from Ōnuma Lake in Nagano Prefecture. .....
- source : yokai.com/uwabami -



..................................................... Okayama 岡山県 ..................................................

. kohaku mochi 紅白餅 and 酒呑童子 Shuten Doji .
a legend from Niimi　新見


..................................................... Saitama 埼玉県 ..................................................

Chichibu, 吉田町 Yoshida

During お盆 O-Bon, the festival for the ancestors, children go to the river and enjoy sumo wrestling. One of the boys got hungry, went home and ate some of the ぼた餅 botamochi offered to the ancestors. When he came back to the river and tried to wrestle again, he fell into the river and never came out again.
You should not eat the Mochi dedicated to the ancestors.




..................................................... Shimane 島根県 .....................................................

On the 20th day of the first lunar month all family members share to eat the 力餅 chikara mochi they have prepared in the last year. This way they will all partake of great power.


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- reference -

血を流す餅　/ 若餅 / かびたれ餅 / 鼠の餅つき

yokai database - more than 560 episodes tba (01)
- source : www.nichibun.ac.jp -


mochitsuki 餅つき (12) tba
- source : www.nichibun.ac.jp -



. mochi 餅 rice cakes, Reiskuchen .
- Introduction -


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. - - - Join my Kappa friends on facebook ! - - - .

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- - - - - Kappa and Mochi legends - 河童と餅 - - - - -


Kappamochi, Kappa-Mochi 河童餅 Green Mochi for the Kappa

. Kappa and Mochi - Ehime 愛媛県 .

. Kappa and Mochi 餅 - Fukushima 福島県 .

. Kappa and Mochi - Gifu 岐阜県 .
imomochi 芋餅 mochi from potatoes

. Kappa and Mochi - Gunma, Gumma 群馬県 .
kabitari mochi かぴたり餅 / (川浸り餅) "Mochi for the First Day"

. Kappa and 餅 Mochi - Ibaraki, Ibaragi 茨城県 .
kawabitari mochi カワビタリモチ / 川浸り餅 "Mochi for the First Day"
kabitari mochi かぴたり餅 / (川浸り餅) "Mochi for the First Day"
kaaperi mochi かーぺぇり餅」(川入り餅) "Mochi to go into the water"

. Kappa and Mochi - Iwate 岩手県　 .

. Kappa and Mochi - Kagoshima 鹿児島県 .

. Kappa and Mochi - Tochigi 栃木県 .
kabitari mochi カビタレモチ / (川浸り餅) "Mochi for the First Day"

. Kappa and Mochi - Tottori 鳥取県 .

. Kappa and Mochi - Toyama 富山県 .
kabitari mochi かぴたり餅 / (川浸り餅) "Mochi for the First Day"

. Kappa and Mochi - Yamagata 山形県 .
mamemochi 豆餅 Mochi made from beans

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. Kappa densetsu　河童伝説, Kappa minwa 河童民話 - Legends - Introduction .

. Mingei 民芸　Regional Folk　Art from Japan .

- #kappamochiyokai #mochiyokai #yokaimochi -
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