🙏🍵THE 1000 YEAR OLD TEAHOUSE🍡❤️🩹
'Ichimonjiya Wasuke' (一文字屋和輔), affectionately known as 'Ichiwa' (一和), was established shortly after the founding of Imamiya-jinja.
For over one thousand years it has served visiting pilgrims a single type of snack: aburi-mochi (あぶり餅).
#Kyoto #京都 #Imamiyajinja #今宮神社 #IchimonjiyaWasuke #一文字屋和輔 #mochi #aburimochi #あぶり餅
Aburi-mochi (あぶり餅) are single-bite rice cakes, skewered on slivers of bamboo.
Dusted with kinako (roasted soy flour), they are baked over a charcoal fire and served with a slathering of white miso sauce.
Each helping has 11 pieces, a number considered auspicious as it is not divisible.
#Kyoto #京都 #Imamiyajinja #今宮神社 #IchimonjiyaWasuke #一文字屋和輔 #mochi #aburimochi #あぶり餅
On the west approach to Imamiya-jinja (今宮神社) you will find two teahouses (茶屋 'chaya'), both serving aburi-mochi.
Ichiwa (一和), to the right, is by far the older establishment, appearing in the year 1000.
To the left is the newcomer, Kazariya (かざりや), founded in 1637.
Both stores have historically played slightly different roles.
For a long time Ichiwa provided mochi specifically for the gods of Imamiya-jinja and for its pilgrims.
For a long time Ichiwa provided mochi specifically for the gods of Imamiya-jinja and for its pilgrims.
In the Edo period, when rice became more affordable, Kazariya was opened (by Ichiwa) as a more general rest stop.
The aburi-mochi we eat today evolved from offerings first made at Imamiya-jinja.
After a nasty epidemic in 994 the court funded expansion of an old shrine dedicated to the god of pestilence. Another epidemic in 1001 resulted in the shrine being rebuilt at its current location.
The offerings of aburi-mochi became intrinsically linked to the god of pestilence, and Ichiwa began serving the skewered rice cakes to eager pilgrims.
Visitors believed eating the aburi-mochi would offer them protection from disease for a whole year.
Each year it was thus necessary to return to eat more aburi-mochi.
Very little has changed at Ichiwa (一和) since it started business 1000 years ago.
Once pounded by hand using water drawn from a spring in the store's cellar, the mochi is now made by machine with tap water (for health reasons the shop can no longer use its private well).
This would probably cost $25 - 30 in America. I keep being really shocked by how cheap food and rent are in Japan.
The kaguraden is really nice architecture. The proportions of the roof and beams is very nice to look at. But there is a mon instead of torii. That is a bit of a surprise. Are Fujin and Raijin guarding like at a temple?
@littlejustices 7 and 8 are the main lucky numbers. 4 is extremely unlucky. 3 and 5 are also considered lucky.
So basically there are a lot of 'lucky' numbers and a lot of reasons why they are lucky (from the way they sound, their connections to Buddhism etc...).
Camellia Tea Ceremony
Khalid is Preparing for Hijra
Leanne J
Al Andersen
Little Justices