Temari sushi, Matsumoto & Hinamatsuri

So what do all the above have in common? Well let’s go back to my visit to Matsumoto to find out.

Matsumoto 松本 is a picturesque historical castle-town located in Nagano Prefecture, nestled between the mountains at the foot of the Japanese Alps.

On walking the streets lined with preserved old merchant buildings I kept seeing a reoccurring feature popping up everywhere, from lampposts, posters to even manhole covers, of colourful spheres of works of art.

These spheres are a traditional Japanese toy know as a temari ball 手毬. The word temari combines the characters te (手), meaning hand, and mari (鞠 or 毬), a ball.

The art form originally came from China where it was known as a kemari (‘kick ball’) and was originally made from ribbon decorated cloth. However It is said over 200 years ago, a wife of the ruling Matsumoto Clan nobility created the first ‘temari’ handball, which has now become the symbol of Matsumoto.

They were first made from silk and kimono scraps and the temari balls were popular as simple toys for little girls to play with. Matsumoto was for a time a major producer of high-quality silk and as production grew the temari ball became a carefully intricately crafted item of beauty using silk and cotton threads to produce beautifully-decorative temari we see today.

The popularity of temari grew during the Edo period, from the 17th to 19th centuries, and became an at-home craft for mothers as a popular art form. The balls are made by winding colored threads of silk to create various shapes and patterns. Once given to daughters by parents on New Year’s Day as a symbolic wish for their child’s happiness. It went further for them to also be given to brides as a good luck charm to symbolize deep friendship and loyalty with the bright coloured threads symbolising a brilliant and happy life for the receiver. They were also given by brides to the grooms family as a symbol of harmony between families. Nowadays, they are mainly used as gifts as popular good luck souvenirs and interior decorations.

The Matsumoto City Museum of Art celebrates Matsumoto’s rich cultural heritage including having some intricate folk art temari balls on exhibition.

I picked up a coaster with the same temari motif as a souvenir of my visit.

As temari balls have connections to daughters and happy occasions, temarizushi (手まり寿司) named after such decorated balls has been one of the traditional festive foods to prepare for Hinamatsuri ひな祭り (雛祭り ) Girl’s Day in Japan, held annually on March 3rd. This is when families celebrate the health and happiness of young girls (generally up to 10 years old). Hinamatsuri is one of Japan’s five sekku, or seasonal festivals. If you would like to read more about Hinamatsuri you can by searching “Hinamatsuri” on my recipe pages where you will find lots of recipes and ideas of how to celebrate this special day.

Traditionally, girls in Japan invited their friends to a home party to celebrate this festival.

Temarizushi are balls of sushi rice with colourful toppings, and are perfect finger food for a party. You could even have a Temarizushi making event where guests make their own with provided toppings.

All you need to make your own are balls of sushi rice and a variety of toppings of pickled and sliced vegetables. You don’t need any practice or expert skill to make them just have fun creating. I particularly enjoyed using pickled radicchio just rub a little salt into the leaves and sprinkle with vinegar then leave over night. You can then wrap balls of sushi rice with the leaves.

Why not even put little surprise fillings inside the balls like umeboshi or add a little wasabi to the top of the ball before wrapping it in a pickled leaf. Use your imagination the combinations are endless and part of the fun of making them.

This year to accompany the temarizushi I made sanshoku dango  三色団子 which literally translates to “three coloured rice dumpling” There are three specific colours associated with Hinamatsuri green for health, white for purification, and pink for luck. Some times the colours are referred to as : Green colour of spring. White the last snow that is melting away. Pink spring flowers, such as cherry blossoms and peach blossom

I also made sakura mochi 桜餅 a traditional spring soft, chewy, sticky rice cake wagashi filled with sweet azuki red bean paste. Both are made  for Hinamatsuri and also to celebrate spring and the coming sakura season.

The Sakura mochi were extra special this year as I had made my own salt-cured cherry leaves known as sakuraba no shiozuke last May. If you would like to know how to make these and also oka no shiozuke (salt-cured cherry blossoms)

I have recipes on my recipe pages along with recipes for sakura mochi and sanshoku dango .

Everything to celebrate Hinamatsuri.