Hinamatsuri: Crochet Hishi Mochi Amigurumi・雛祭りの和菓子: かぎ針編み菱餅

It's March 3rd and today is Hinamatsuri 雛祭り (literally, "doll festival") in Japan, a day in honour of girls. Hinamatsuri, or Girls' Day, is a traditional Japanese festival celebrated in Japan in honour of girls. On this day, families gather together to pray for the health and happiness of daughters. Various traditional dishes are eaten on this day, including the wagashi traditionally associated with Hinamatsuri: hishi mochi 菱餅.

The hishi mochi is diamond-shaped (hence its name hishi) and typically has 3 layers coloured pink, white and green. The hishi mochi symbolises fertility. In other regions in Japan, hishi mochi can have 5 or 7 layers, generally including colours such as yellow. Each coloured layer has a certain meaning, something that I've yet had to time to look up. The diamond shape supposedly appeared during the Asuka period (538-710) and symbolises yang energy.

Crochet hishi mochi for Hinamatsuri (on IG)

After the crochet hanabira mochi (posted here), I felt inspired to create another crochet wagashi for this Japanese festival. And so here is a crochet hishi mochi for the day. It was made with a modified version of my kueh talam crochet pattern. I admit this amigurumi was rather hastily made as I've been preoccupied with other projects, and left it to the last minute. But it was a fun one. There is another Hinamatsuri idea formulating and taking shape however, and I hope to post that when it's completed.

Hinamatsuri is also commonly depicted in Japanese popular culture. It's been portrayed in various anime and manga, but a specific one comes to my mind: Emiya-san Chi no Kyou no Gohan episode 3 when the Fate/Stay Night characters dress up Illya in a pretty pink sakura kimono and have a surprise Hinamatsuri celebration at Emiya's home.

Screenshot from Emiya-san Chi no Kyou no Gohan episode 3, everyone dresses up Illya in a kimono and gather at Emiya's home to celebrate Hinamatsuri. ©TAa/Kadokawa/Miura Takahiro/Sato Tetsuto/Ufotable/Emiya-san Chi no Kyou no Gohan production committee.

Too bad this episode didn't feature the hishi mochi but other anime have (I'm remembering Shirokuma Cafe and K-On!). Episode 46 of Shirokuma Cafe has the various characters putting up the odairi-sama doll set and eating hishi mochi on Hinamatsuri.

Screenshot from Shirokuma Cafe episode 46 at 00:11:23. ©Aloha Higa/Shogakukan/Masuhara Mitsuyuki/Hosokawa Toru/Studio Pierrot/Shirokuma Cafe production committee.

Update (30 March): I also found this Hinamatsuri hishi mochi video tutorial by @kagibariamich on YouTube (and her post here), which is also easy to follow and includes the table indicating the instructions and total number of stitches. As mentioned before in my crochet taiyaki post, Japanese crochet pattern formats are something of a culture shock for people who are used to the typical UK/US written patterns, as Japanese patterns typically (no, almost always) consist of crochet diagrams and tables. But that's not a major issue with the said video tutorial, language notwithstanding.