Traditional Japanese mallet and mortar for making *mochi* (rice-cakes), Tokyo 1974

Traditional wooded kine (mallet) and usu (mortar) used in rice-cake pounding (mochitsuki) ceremony for making traditional mochi for the Japanese New Year. Mochi is made of glutinous rice flour, soaked overnight, cooked, then pounded into paste using wooden mallets in a traditional mortar and molded into shape. Two people alternate, one pounding and the other turning and wetting the mochi. They keep a steady rhythm to avoid accidentally injure one another with the heavy mallet.