Posted on: Thursday, March 3, 2005
Mochi 'diamonds' are everyone's way to salute Girls Day
By Zenaida Serrano
Advertiser Staff Writer
Richard Hirao hunched over a bright green mass of freshly pounded mochi and began kneading the dough, leaning into it with every pound of his 84-year-old frame.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser Normally Hirao, owner of Nisshodo Candy Store in Kalihi, would begin his day at 3 or 4 in the morning. But yesterday Hirao was at the shop by 2, preparing to fill nearly a thousand orders in time for Girls Day today, one of the busiest times for the 87-year-old business.
"I work and do what I can," Hirao said, rarely pausing for a break.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser Regular customers have been placing orders for the mochi — a combination of chichidango, an or hishi mochi — since the end of January, said Ursula Hirao, Richard Hirao's daughter-in-law. But the company is no longer taking orders.
"We've been turning people away since Saturday," she said.
After the advance orders are filled today, Nisshodo may have some leftovers available for sale for walk-in customers, but there are no guarantees, Ursula Hirao said.
Keeping track of the sweets made especially for Girls Day would be maddening.
"We try not to count," she said and laughed. At best guess, the company will produce several thousand mochi — thousands were made yesterday alone.
Ursula Hirao and her husband Michael, Richard's son, make up the third generation in the family business, started in 1918 by Richard's parents, Asataro and Kumayo.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser As Richard Hirao sat on a cushioned wooden stool by the pounder, he folded a new batch of mochi in the steel mortar, paying careful attention to the heavy pestle. He remembered how his younger brother Thomas Hirao had one of his fingers crushed nearly 15 years ago.
"That's what happens when you sleepy, yeah?" Richard Hirao said.
His brother retired in September, but there's no end in sight for Richard Hirao, who works six and a half days (he takes time off for church on Sundays) and hasn't taken a vacation in more than 10 years.
"The customers won't let me quit," he joked.
Nisshodo customers are loyal ones, including Diane Goo, 57, of Manoa. Goo was among a steady stream of customers who picked up their orders yesterday.
Goo's mother, who has known Richard Hirao's family for years, placed an order for 20 pieces of an mochi more than two weeks ago. In keeping with tradition, Goo will share the delights with the "girls" in her family.
"It's for my mother, sisters and daughter," said Goo, an instructor at Honolulu Community College.
Nisshodo also has loyal employees, like Jane Hashimoto, 77, who has worked at Nisshodo for more than 10 years. The Waimalu resident is one of nine workers who helps make, cut, shape or wrap the mochi, among other things, Monday through Saturday.
Donning a white ruffled apron, Hashimoto sat beside two other women; all three wrapped individual pieces of pink and white chichidango with parchment paper and quick hands.
"I rather work than stay at home," said Hashimoto, a part-timer.
Hashimoto will continue to clock in at Nisshodo. And so will Richard Hirao, who constantly ignores his son and daughter-in-law's orders to call it a day.
"They tell me to go home," Hirao said. "But if I go home, I just lie around and watch TV."
Reach Zenaida Serrano at 535-8174 or zserrano@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he worked quietly, folding and working the mochi into the right consistency. Hirao was covered up to his elbows with potato starch — a layer of the white powder blanketed his T-shirt, green shorts and blue plastic apron.
Richard Hirao, the owner of Nisshodo Candy Store in Kalihi, folds colored mochi in between drops of the steel hammer of his Japanese mochi pounding machine.
Nisshodo produces all types of confections, including manju (a baked pastry filled with sweetened bean paste), chichidango (rectangular sticks of mochi with a creamy, milky taste), and an mochi (round mochi with azuki bean filling). But more popular today is the distinctive diamond-shaped hishi mochi, a treat associated with Girls Day.
The colors of hishi mochi, represent the flowers of spring (red or pink), the snow of winter (white) and the fresh abundance of summer (green).
In addition to his mochi-making tradition, Asataro Hirao also left behind a mechanical pounder, which he bought from Japan for the business more than 50 years ago. The steady "thunking" of the machine has become a constant, familiar sound at the facility.
Hirao, then rolls out the mochi before final preparations. Girls Day in March is one of the busiest times for the 87-year-old family business.
• • •
| GIRLS DAY AND HISHI MOCHI
• Fifteen centuries of Japanese rituals and festivals involving dolls evolved into Hinamatsuri, or the dolls festival, which is celebrated in Hawai'i and outside Japan as Girls Day on March 3. • Since the Tokugawa period of the 18th century, the event has been celebrated by displaying ceremonial dolls made of porcelain, cloth or wood. • The festival began with the Japanese custom of giving ceremonial dolls to first-born baby girls and the passing of dolls from mothers to daughters. • The annual celebration encompasses the Japanese respect for artistry and patience in creating the dainty and delicate dolls that are supposed to reflect order, tradition, loyalty, the family unit, grace and serenity. • Hishi mochi is a distinctive diamond-shaped treat associated with Girls Day. It is said to have originated as an imitation of a diamond-shaped medicinal leaf thought to have the property of giving long life to the eater. • The mochi are made in three colors: White represents the snow of winter or purity; red (or pink), the flowers of spring or energy; and green, the fresh abundance of summer or fertility. There is no color for autumn, as it is hoped that there will be no autumn in girls' lives. Sources: Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i Resource Center and Advertiser staff |
