At Hikone Castle, a national treasure in Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture, the annual Kagamibiraki ceremony was held on New Year's Day, and cut rice cakes were distributed to visitors.
From 9:00 am on the 4th, eight staff gathered at the workshop of the center that manages the castle, and during the year-end and New Year holidays, they cut up the kagami mochi that were displayed in the castle tower and the garden.
Of these, the largest rice cake with a diameter of 50 centimeters, which was displayed on the castle tower, was cut into small pieces by two staff members who put their weight on it while inserting a kitchen knife.
Then, I cut it into pieces about 3 centimeters in size and put them in a paper bag with a stamp of Hikone City's popular character "Hikonyan".
After this, the staff distributed the cut rice cakes to visitors at four places, including the front gate, which is the entrance to the castle.
A man from Hyogo Prefecture who visited with his family said, "I'm very happy to receive rice cakes. It was worth coming to Hikone. I hope this year will be a bright year without war."
Toshiaki Miyagawa, director of the Hikone Castle Operation Management Center, said, ``A lot of people came to the New Year's bell at the end of the year for the first time in several years.