A traditional mochi throwing festival at a rural Japanese temple in Seiwa, Mei Prefecture, Japan.

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Mochi throwing is a regular event that takes place at many Japanese temples. The monks will prepare mochi (basically rice cakes) for the festival in which local crowds will gather for the receipt of the rice cakes. The crowds will gather in masses as the monks freely throw the mochi from the temple, the locals will scramble quickly to gather as many mochi as they can. It is an extremely fun experience where even the oldest of participants will bash each other out the way for a mochi!

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Size: 3533px × 5300px
Location: Seiwa, Japan
Photo credit: © Philimages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: culture, festival, japan, japanese, mochi, people, rural, seiwa, throwing, tradition, traditional, cake, crowd, crowds, culture, festival, japan, mochi, rice, temple, throwing