Kashiwa-Mochi and Chimaki Children's Day Foods

Japan — kashiwa-mochi is indigenous Kanto development; chimaki derives from Chinese Heian-period court introduction

Kodomo no Hi (Children's Day, May 5), formerly Tango no Sekku (Boys' Day), is observed with two specific wagashi confections whose plant wrappings carry symbolic and antimicrobial functions: kashiwa-mochi and chimaki. Kashiwa-mochi is a round mochi filled with smooth or coarse azuki bean paste (or occasionally miso-bean paste) and wrapped in a kashiwa oak leaf, which is not eaten but whose presence is symbolic — the kashiwa oak retains its dead leaves through winter until new leaves push them off in spring, representing the hope that the family line continues without interruption (kashiwa = oak, no = possessive, ha = leaf, but also 'no interruption'). The leaf also imparts a faint green, grassy fragrance to the mochi surface. Chimaki are cone-shaped glutinous rice preparations (sometimes sweetened, sometimes plain rice cake) wrapped in bamboo or cogon grass leaves and tied with dried rush grass, then steamed. The bamboo or grass imparts a clean herbal fragrance. Chimaki were originally a Chinese ritual food (zongzi) introduced to Japan during the Heian period as Tango offerings, while kashiwa-mochi is a purely Japanese development. Regional variations: in Kansai and westward Japan, chimaki dominates Children's Day over kashiwa-mochi; in Tokyo and Kanto, kashiwa-mochi is the norm — the geographical boundary is sometimes called the 'kashiwa-chimaki line.'

Kashiwa-mochi: soft white mochi, sweet azuki filling, faint oak-leaf grassiness; chimaki: clean bamboo-herbal fragrance infused into sweet or plain glutinous rice