Opening the Mirror

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Kagami Biraki 鏡開き is a traditional Japanese ceremony that traditionally falls on 11th January as odd numbers represent good luck in Japan. It translates as 'opening the mirror' or 'breaking of the mochi' and refers to the opening of a kagami mochi or cask of Sake at a party.

The first ceremony was held over 300 years ago by the fourth Tokugawa Shogun on the eve of war. He gathered his daimyo (feudal warlords) and they broke open a cask of Sake. When they were victorious, it became tradition.

The ceremony is performed at many events, in a similar way to raising a toast in the UK. Weddings, sporting events, the launch of a new company, are just some of the events that are celebrated with Kagami biraki.

Mochi is round rice dough desert. It's outer layer is very stretchy and there are various flavours that are stuffed inside. Traditionally, the mochi would be made at home though many people buy it from the shop these days (like me 😊 Two mochi are placed one on top of the other, the smaller being on top, and placed in the Shinto or Buddhist altar or in the tokonoma (an alcove in a house) as an offering to the deities that visit on New Year's. By the time it is removed on the 11th, it is pretty brittle and is sometimes smashed with a hammer (as cutting it with a knife has negative connotations of cutting ties).

I went out and bought my Mochi in Glasgow. They didn't have any plain ones, so I ended up buying a pack of peanut and a pack of taro flavoured ones (hom nom nom). I stacked them as seen in the picture, and ripped them into small pieces before eating them. I didn't drink any sake, as I've already had three different alcohols in the past 5 days, and the woman in the off-license has started to recognise me. Being that I've only been here 7 days, it worries me.

Tomorrow: Malanka - Singing in Ukrainian!

As always, if you have any suggestions of things I should celebrate, message me here or tweet me @fighiggins

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Photos

Tower of Mochi
Peanut mochi topped with taro mochi - just as nature intended.