お餅つき/Mochi-Tsuki (Mochi Pounding)

＊こちらはFB個人アカウントに投稿したものを一部加筆・修正したものです

＊This is a partially edited and edited version of what I posted on my FB personal account.

いよいよ年の瀬ですね。本日の予定は餅つき！といっても、つくのは餅つき機なんですが。

It’s finally the end of the year. Today’s plan is “Mochi pounding” However, it is made using a mochi pounding machine.

子どもの頃は、28日の夜が餅つきというのが定番でした。

When I was a child, it was customary to have mochi pounding on the night of the 28th.

・薪で餅米を蒸す

・石臼と杵で代わる代わる餅をつく

・蒸し上がった餅米を（餅つき前に）おにぎりにして食べる

この当たり前のおかげで、九餅(くもち)・一夜餅(いちやもち)を避けるということを知らず知らずのうちに覚えられました。

・Steam sticky rice with firewood

・Make mochi by taking turns using a stone mortar and pestle

・Make steamed sticky rice into rice balls (before pounding the mochi) and eat.

Thanks to this common sense, I learned to avoid Kumochi and Ichiyamochi without realizing it.

当時は、雪がちらつく夜に何家族か集まるので、賑やかな餅つきでした。しかも、それぞれの家庭で何臼分かつくため、夜中に終わるという長丁場。

（もっと昔は翌朝までかかっていたとか）

当然、お子ちゃまたちは途中でくたびれて寝る、というお決まりのパターン。

At that time, several families would gather on snowing night, and it was a lively mochi pounding event. What’s more, each household takes several mills, so the process ends in the middle of the night.

(In the past, it used to take until the next morning.)

Naturally, the children get tired halfway through the process and go to bed, which is the usual pattern.

そんな思い出深い餅つきも、みんなが歳を重ねたこと、「返し手＝餅を返す役目」は伯母以外できる人がいないことなどから、ここ数年は餅つき機にお願いすることとなりました。

For the past few years, we have had to rely on a mochi pounding machine to do the memorable mochi pounding, as everyone has gotten older and there is no one other than my aunt who can handle the role of returning the mochi.

平均年齢のたか～いヤマダ家の餅つき。今年も猫たちにジャマされないようにします。

The Yamada family, whose average age has increased, will be making mochi pounding again this year.I will try not to let the cats interfere this year as well.