A Symphony of Colors — Nakatanidou Mochi as the Treasure of Nara

Visitors of Nara must not miss the Nakatanidou mochi as it is certainly a precious intangible heritage of Nara. In my Japanese food entry, the Nakatanidou mochi is the only food that I thought was an absolute must-try in this Japan trip.

I passed by Nakatanidou a few times in my sojourn in Nara. The most crowded time was in the afternoon, with long queues of eager customers wanting a taste of this wonderful Nara specialty. Bloggers say that the shop displays the pounding technique during the day, but I did not have a chance to appreciate it.

When I was heading out for dinner in the evening, I passed by Nakatanidou again, when the store was packing up the last few mochi’s that were left over from the day. I snatched what was there, and ate it before having my dinner. After dinner, I passed by the store on the way back to the guesthouse. At that hour, the chef was cleaning the tools, utensils and the kitchen. There was just one box of mochi’s left. I snatched that box as well.

The Mochi of Nakatanidou

The chewy texture of the mochi comes from the repeated motion of rapidly pounding the glutinous rice dough, which serves as the wrapping for this wonderful morsel. At Nakatanidou, the mochi pounding is a world record. Nakatanidou holds the Guiness record for the speed of pounding the steamed glutinous rice.

TheIntroverTraveler has a perfect description of the amazing theatrics involved in the pounding of the steamed glutinous rice cake. The workers work in perfect synchrony with the pounding of a wooden mallet upon the dough to turn up a pillowy but stretchy mochi. The process of making mochi is called mochitsuki.

Needless to say, the fact that I went back a second time to snatch the last box of the day shows just how good these mochi’s are. The sensation of eating the Nakatanidou mochi is one of unlikely opposites. When I put the mochi into my mouth, the first expectation was that the glutinous rice cake would melt away. Its softness indicates so. Yet not so soon. I tasted the red bean paste inside and the whole piece became fluffy and chewy at the same time. It could have been heaven in your mouth, yes, as in having clouds squished between your tongue and the roof of your palate.

Before serving these mochi’s, a layer of yomogi is sprinkled. Yomogi is Japanese mugwort, which gives “the treat a subtle earthy and herbal taste.” (TheIntroverTraveler).

Wrapping Up in Nara

My only evening in Nara ended on a sweet note as I had this last mochi of the day with hot tea over a small coffee table on the tatami.

As I wrapped the super fluffy blanket around me that evening, I felt an incredible sense of satiation. I have seen the deer of Nara Park and savored the heavenly morsel of Nakatanidou mochi. There was wonderful chocolate cake and coffee at the Myriam Café in between. The cold was very soothing in Nara, and I did not have to fight with other tourists over so many things like I did in Kyoto.

In the following day, I would take a one last (or rather, the only) look at Osaka as the conclusion of my first trip to Japan.

Sources

TheIntroverTraveler on Nakatanidou, the Famous Mochi Shop in Nara (Japan).