Big Mochi

Here's a picture of the big mochi taken from the side of the shrine. That's one big rice cake! This obviously isn't like the crisp puffed-rice snacks that we call "rice cakes" in the States. This is made of a very sticky pasty substance. Street vendors sell grilled balls of it on wooden skewers. I'm not personally a big fan, but I seemed to remember that Aunt Mary really liked the stuff. I'm not sure why it's considered sacred enough to offer to the gods in this case. Occasionally, one of the priests (?) in the shrine would carry a little kid from the sidelines to touch the big mochi cake.