Rice Cake Pounding もちつき
mochitsuki4 characters10 strokes
もちつき (mochitsuki) is mochi pounding: steamed sticky rice is pounded in a big mortar with a wooden mallet to make soft rice cakes.
Free practice sheet
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Meaning 意味
What もちつき means
The Japanese word for Rice Cake Pounding, written in hiragana and read mochitsuki.
もちつき means pounding steamed sticky rice in a mortar (usu) with a mallet (kine) to make mochi. Families and neighborhoods have long done it together at the end of the year and at New Year.
The word is written all in hiragana, which keeps it soft, friendly and easy to read.
When people write it in Japan. People in Japan write it for pieces about year-end and New Year events, or about family and neighbors working together.
Written in kana, the Japanese syllables children learn first.
How to write it 書き方
Brush tips for もちつき
Three things to watch
- In も, curve the vertical stroke round at the bottom and flick it up toward the upper right. Let the two horizontal strokes cross that vertical.
- In ち, swing the lower part wide to the right to make a full curve. Finish with a long sweep down to the left.
- Write つ wide and flat, and write き tall. Make the most of the different shapes of these two characters, one placed above the other.
Stroke order
Follow the vermilion stroke, frame by frame.
Stroke order data: KanjiVG by Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0.
How to practice 練習
Trace first, then copy
- PrintPrint both pages at actual size, on US Letter or A4. Page 1 is the model. Page 2 is the tracing sheet.
- TraceTrace the outlines with a brush pen. Or lay thin hanshi paper over the page and trace with brush and ink.
- CopySet the model beside your paper and copy it stroke by stroke. Look at the model more than at your own paper.
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