This is Nina.
It's February already ! Time flies !
February is the most quiet month (season) for us, because few tourists visit Kanazawa.
We have plenty of time to talk to our guests and really enjoy it every day.
Today, I'll write an article about some events of Pongyi that I could not show you recently.
First, "Kagami-biraki" on January 11th.
”Kagami-biraki" is an event of eating "kagami-mochi (rice cake) at the end of the New Year.
We had a small Kagami-biraki party with our guests.
This is a kagami-mochi.
We put it for 10 days in our living room as an offering for Kami (kind of God of Shintoism).
Kagami-mochi in Kanazawa is red and white.
This is one of the traditions in Kanazawa. (Kagami-mochi is usually white in many other places in Japan.)
In a big Kagami-mochi, there were 15 small mochi.
We cooked this with them !
Oshiruko !!
* Oshiruko is sweet red bean soup with grilled mochi.
"Wow, mochi ! Yummy～♪"
Ladies from England and France, they really enjoyed Oshiruko !
Masaki-san added a little bit grated ginger in Oshiruko.
That made it more tasty !
Next, "Otakiage" on January 15th.
We brought a lot of "peace origami (peace message is written inside)” that we made with our guests last year to a shrine nearby and put them into holy fire wishing the peace of the world.
Many origami cranes !
Plenty of messages inside.
We brought some calligraphy papers as well.
It is called "Kakizome".
Usually, we write our new year's resolution.
Everyone who stayed and wrote Kakizome at Pongyi, thank you very much !
Two guests from the Netherlands and Australia coincidentally chose a same resolution "challenge".
I hope they are challenging something new somewhere in the world !
Masaki-san's choice is "Be a healthy middle aged man" !
"We hope all the peace message of our guests will reach the sky !"
Masaki-san started this peace origami style, and we are still doing it every year (for 10 years) .
We had a wonderful time this year too.
For all the guests who participated in our peace origami making last year, we really appreciate your cooperation.
We will try making more cranes this year !
It became the next month, it was "Setsubun" on February 3rd.
”Setsubun” literally means "division of the seasons" so it was the day of end of winter and beginning of spring.
We went to Yasue hachimangu shrine and joined the Setsubun and throwing roasted soybeans festival.
The Setsubun festival of this shrine always welcomes not only local Kanazawa people but also visiters from other countries.
This is a scene of a lot of people (so many kids this year !) catching roasted soybeans (and mochi, chocolate, candy)
We caught the soybeans as possible as we could of course !
After came back to Pongyi, we made "Ehoumaki (sushi roll)".
We prepared cucumbers, pickled radish, Japanese omelet. local tried vegertables, minced tuna etc. this year.
"I will roll this !"
The lucky direction of 2020 was west-southwest.
In Pongyi, it was almost same direction to the front door.
* When we eat ehoumaki, we need to face to the lucky direction of each year.
Then we eat ehoumaki in silence with closed eyes while making a wish when eating a hole sushi roll.
It was so delicious !!
We often enjoy the seasonal Japanese events at Pongyi like this.
We want as many people as possible to know or find our beautiful culture and real lifestyle here !
We are looking forward to seeing you and enjoying our culture together in Kanazawa♪