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80115-0026 - Japanese New Year Celebrations

Kobe, 1906
New Year Celebrations 2

Artist	Teijiro Takagi
Publisher	Teijiro Takagi
Medium	Collotype Print
Period	Meiji
Location	Kobe
Image No.	80115-0026
Purchase	Digital File
Author	Kjeld Duits

Pounding glutinous rice to make mochi rice cakes, used in the traditional New Year dishes.

This image is part of The New Year in Japan, a book published by Kobe-based photographer Kozaburo Tamamura in 1906. Original text¹:

Our foreign friends indulge in plum pudding; our pudding, mochi (a dough of rice), is the national diet for the celebration of the New Year Era, and also for sacred celebrations during the year. Men, with boilers and dough tubs, pound the rice into dough, and nearly every family engage these dough pounders, to save time and trouble. The pounding begins about the 25th December, and continues until the end of the year.

See all New Year images on Old Photos of Japan.

Notes

¹ Tamamura, Kozaburo (1906). The New Year in Japan. Tamamura Shashinkan.

Published January 1, 2009
Updated December 29, 2022 9:33 AM

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Old Photos of Japan aims to be your personal museum for Japan's visual heritage and to bring the experiences of everyday life in old Japan to you.

To enhance our understanding of Japanese culture and society I track down, acquire, archive, and research images of everyday life, and give them context.

I share what I have found for free on this site, without ads or selling your data.

Your support helps me to continue doing so, and ensures that this exceptional visual heritage will not be lost and forgotten.

Thank you,
Kjeld Duits

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Reference for Citations

Duits, Kjeld (December 29, 2022). Kobe, 1906: New Year Celebrations 2, OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN. Retrieved on May 20, 2026 (GMT) from https://www.oldphotosjapan.com/photos/681/new-year-celebrations-2

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Kobe, 1906New Year Celebrations 2