Candy Sculpting is an ancient Asian folk art that originated in China and has been known in Japan for over 1,000 years. As a dying art, only a few performers exist in the world today.
Utilizing old Japanese scissors, Shan Ichiyanagi, a world-renowned candy artist, can magically transform a block of molten corn syrup into a beautiful sculpture of almost any shape and size, in just 4-5 minutes!
Visit Oshogatsu Family Festival on Sunday, January 5th to watch Shan Ichiyanagi make his amazing candy sculptures from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
In celebration of the festival’s theme, “Year of the Horse”, Shan Ichiyanagi will make his special horse candy sculptures. The candies will be for children only and will be raffled off throughout the day.
The festival will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The day will be filled with fun arts & crafts, food, exciting cultural activities, and more! For more information, please visit: janm.org/oshogatsufest2014
Be sure to check our blog for more posts on specific activities scheduled for Oshogatsu Family Festival!
Read our interview with Shan Ichiyanagi on our Discover Nikkei website:
Young guests trying zaru soba at the 2013 Oshogatsu Family Festival
Celebrate the New Year with special New Year’s foods at the 2014 Oshogatsu Family Festival on Sunday, January 5th. It’s FREE all day from 11AM to 5PM!
Guests can learn how to make onigiri and submit their creative rice balls in an Onigiri Design Contest; Kidding around the Kitchen will provide the ingredients to make some lucky zaru soba (buckwheat noodles); and there will a mochitsuki demonstration by Kodama Taiko, where free samples will be handed out after each performance.
Not only is food a major component of JANM’s Oshogatsu Family Festival, but it is also a major component of traditional Japanese New Year celebrations. That’s why JANM has organized an Osechi-ryoritasting for the festival! Osechi-ryori are traditional Japanese New Year foods. The dishes that make up osechi each have a special meaning celebrating the New Year. Learn more about these dishes, and try them out for yourself at the festival!
There will be a general Osechi-ryori tasting from 12PM – 1PM, followed by a Members Gourmet Osechi-ryori tasting from 1PM – 2PM, which will be for JANM members only. Remember to get in line early because the tasting will only last as long as supplies last!
Stay tuned for more blog posts covering the special activities planned for Oshogatsu Family Festival!
On Sunday, January 5, 2014, JANM will once again be holding an Onigiri Design Contest at the annual Oshogatsu Family Festival!
Onigiri are rice balls that are traditionally shaped into triangles and balls. However, onigiri can be pressed into many different shapes and decorated with all kinds of materials. Onigiri is made with plain rice and wrapped in nori (edible seaweed). Traditionally, the onigiri is filled with pickled salted plum fruit (umeboshi), salted salmon, bonito shavings, katsuobushi, or any other salty or sour ingredient.
From 12PM to 2PM learn how to make and decorate onigiri rice balls, and stick around until 3:30PM, when the Onigiri Design Contest winners will be announced.
The Onigiri Design contest will be sponsored by Common Grains, a project dedicated to providing people with a deeper understanding and appreciation for Japanese food and culture. Common Grains aims to share the traditions and pleasures of eating grains and vegetables within a healthy, sustainable lifestyle. For more information, please visit their website, commongrains.com.
Be sure to check our blog for more detailed posts of the activities planned for Oshogatsu Family Festival!
The Oshogatsu Family Festival will be from 11AM to 5PM and is free and open to the public. The day will be filled with fun arts & crafts, food, exciting cultural activities, and more! For the complete festival schedule, please visit janm.org/oshogatsufest2014.
On Sunday, January 5th, celebrate the New Year and the Year of the Horse at our Oshogatsu Family Festival from 11AM to 5PM.
Ring in the New Year with a fun-filled day of arts ‘n crafts, food, exciting cultural activities, and performances! FREE ALL DAY!
One of the traditional Japanese customs that JANM will be celebrating is mochitsuki—the pounding of mochi or rice cakes, which is essential to the “Oshogatsu” or New Year’s celebration.
Mochitsuki is an annual custom kept by many Japanese American households and communities. It is traditionally an all-day event which requires many hands, long hours, and physical labor, but is also a time of fellowship and socializing with friends and family.
Mochitsuki usually begins the day before, with the washing of the mochigome(sweet glutinous rice) and is left to soak overnight in large kettles or tubs. Early the next morning the mochigome is ready to be steamed in theseiro—wooden steaming frames. Three or four seiro are stacked one on top of the other and placed over a kettle of boiling water.
After the rice is cooked, it is dumped into the usu, or mortar, made from a wood stump, stone or concrete form. The hot cooked rice in the usu is pounded with a kine or wooden mallet. With enthusiasm and force, the mochi is pounded until the mass of rice is smooth and shiny, with no discernible individual grains of rice. An essential participant in the pounding is the person assisting who quickly darts his or her hand into the usu and turns the rice before the next rhythmic pound.
The smooth, consistent mass of mochi is turned onto a cloth or paper covered table, already spread with a thin layer of mochiko (sweet rice flour). This makes the sticky mass easier to handle. An adept person pinches off small portions of the steaming hot mochi for others, who quickly form them into flattened bun shapes with their hands. The formed mochi is then set aside to cool and is ready to eat.
Be sure to visit JANM on Sunday, January 5th 2014 to watch Kodama Taiko perform their unique Mochitsuki performance at 2:30PM or 4PM. Watch as Kodama Taiko combine the age-old tradition of pounding mochi (sweet rice) with the sounds of taiko. This energetic performance is customary during the Japanese New Year’s Oshogatsu. Then stick around to sample the delicious mochi afterwards!
For more information on JANM’s 2014 Oshogatsu Family Festival and the complete schedule, please visit: janm.org/oshogatsufest2014
We hope to see you there!
* * * * *
Check out these stories about mochitsuki on our Discover Nikkei site:
VIDEO: Mochitsuki at Heart Mountain (Wyoming)
B&W home movie footage of mochitsuki taken at the Heart Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming during WWII. From the Naokichi Hashizume Collection at JANM.
Photos by Daryl Kobayashi, Richard Murakami, Russell Kitagawa, Tsuneo Takasugi, and Caronline Jung.
Celebrate the New Year and the Year of the Horse at JANM! Ring in 2014 with a FREE fun-filled day of exciting cultural performances, special foods, and fun crafts!
FREE admission all day on Sunday, January 5, 2014 from 11AM – 5PM.
Here are a few highlights to look forward to at Oshogatsu Family Festival:
From12PM – 5PM, world-renowned candy artistShan Ichiyanagi returns JANM! Watch as he makes horse & other special candy sculptures! These sculptures will be for children on, and candies will be raflled off throughout the day.
From 12PM – 2PM, learn how to make onigiri rice balls and participate in our Onigiri Design Contest, presented by Common Grains!
From1PM – 5PM be sure to try some lucky zaru soba (buckwheat noodles) with Kidding Around the Kitchen. From 1PM – 5PM you can also meet and ride some real live ponies in celebration of the Year of the Horse!
Don’t miss Kodama Taiko at 2:30PM & 4PM as they perform a demonstration of mochitsuki, a traditional rice cake pounding ceremony. Mochi samples will be passed out at the end of the performance!
For JANM members, there will be a special gourmet osechi-ryori tasting from 12PM – 1PM where members can sample traditional Japanese New Year foods, while supplies last!
The day will also include all-day activities such as a horse bounce house, a toddler room where our youngest guests can hang out, Fukubukuro (lucky bag) sale at the Museum Store, and fun horse crafts.
Stay tuned for a special series of Oshogatsu blog posts that will explore some of the cultural activities in more detail!
*****
You don’t have to wait to enjoy holiday fun at JANM!
Join us for Target FREE Family Saturdays: Winter Wonderland on Saturday, December 14 from 11AM – 4PM.
It’s a Winter Wonderland of seasonal crafts & activities including photos with Asian American Santa, a horse-drawn carriage, kamishibai story-telling, and more!
Thanks to everyone who joined us to celebrate the New Year & the Year of the Snake!
Over 2,800 came throughout the day for our 2013 Oshogatsu Family Festival on Sunday, January 6th to enjoy free crafts, performances & food.
Thanks so much to our volunteer photographers who captured all the fun—Caroline Jung, Russell Kitagawa, Daryl Kobayashi, Richard Murakami, and Tsuneo Takasugi.
Here’s a selection of the many, many photos they took to document the day!
(Click on the images to see the full photos)
Multigenerational family fun at Oshogatsu Family Festival
Having fun with zodiac animal & snake crafts
Cute girl & her paper snake
Decorating her animal zodiac wreath
A family pose proudly with their paper snakes
A very focused little girl…coloring is serious business!
Families having fun together with crafts
It was great to see so many extended families celebrating the New Year at JANM!
The Omikuji ladies with fortunes & wishes for the New Year!
Selecting a lucky wish from the box
Ever resourceful, our Christmas tree became our Omikuji Wish Tree for the day!
Ruthie Kitagawa & her assistants taught visitors how to fold origami snakes
Learning how to fold origami snakes
Lots of smiling faces to be seen all day!
Zaru soba noodles with Kidding Around the Kitchen. Yum!
Chowing down on zaru soba noodles!
Varied reactions from these girls, but the zaru soba is not only healthy, but a lucky dish too!
Shaun Ichiyanagi, the “Candyman,” wowed the crowds as he made snake & other sculpture candy.
Lots of lucky kids were able to win candy sculptures to take home
A family shows off their candy sculptures
JANM Volunteer Bob Moriguchi with Shaun the Candyman and his reward for being his assistant for the day!
Wonder what was so surprising? Was he amazed by Shaun the Candyman?
A boy assists Sonoko Sakai by fanning the sushi rice for the rice tasting sponsored by Common Grains & JRE
Young ones taking a break from the crafts and activities with some play time in the Toddler Room
Face painting was another popular activity
Some opted to get their animals painted on their arms
Sandee Hashimoto took a break from volunteering to pose with her family
Hal Keimi is a long-time JANM volunteer who leads interactive taiko demonstrations for school tours throughout the year. He led 2 taiko sessions at Oshogatsu Family Festival
Hands-on taiko lessons!
Playing the taiko with a little help
Watching little kids have fun with taiko
A future taiko master?
Kodama Taiko did two Mochitsuki performances & demonstrations
Kodama Taiko’s very energetic & entertaining Mochitsuki performance
Kids got to try pounding mochi too!
Pounding mochi with the kine (wooden mallet)
Yoisho!
Reptacular Animals were on hand with a reptile petting zoo!
This boy doesn’t look too sure about the snake
There were also assorted lizards on hand
Tortoises too!
Sonoko Sakai with Suzy Nakamura, one of the Onigiri Design Contest winners
For more Oshogatsu Family Festival photos, including from the Onigiri Design Contest, check out our photo album on our JANM Facebook page >>
Celebrate the New Year & the Year of the Snake with JANM!
Join us on Sunday, January 6 from 11am – 5pm for a BIG day full of family-friendly fun activities, crafts, and cultural performances…and it’s all FREE!
We will have a lot of everyone’s favorite activities, plus Year of the Snake-themed crafts & more!
Here are a few highlights to look forward to:
– Mochitsuki performance & demonstration by Kodama Taiko
– Common Grains returns with the Onigiri Design Contest. Last year, this was so popular that we ran out of rice! This year, we’ll also have a rice tasting and you can purchase different varieties of rice. [Learn about how Common Grains got started in this article by founder Sonoko Sakai on our Discover Nikkei site: Common Grains]
– World-renowned candy artist Shaun Ichiyanagi also returns to make snake sculpture candy! (Everyone can watch, but the candy snakes are for children only & will be raffled off at the start of every hour)
– Learn how to play taiko with Bombu Taiko
– Reptacular Animals presents a Reptile petting zoo! Come meet real snakes and other cool reptiles!
– Special fukubukuro (lucky bag) sale at the Museum Store
Wishing you a Healthy & Happy New Year from the Japanese American National Museum!
"New Year's mochi" by Hisako Hibi. Hisako Hibi Collection (99.63.2)
This image is from JANM’s permanent collection. It’s a painting by artist Hisako Hibi and features a still-life of kagami mochi / okasane.
On the back is this inscription:
Hisako Hibi. Jan 1943 at Topaz. Japanese without mochi (pounded sweet rice) is no New Year! It was very sad oshogatsu (New Year). So, I painted okazari mochi in the internment camp.
Our cultural traditions bring our families & communities together, and has the power to give us comfort.
