Usu Maddness!!

Stuart Ablett

Member
Messages
15,917
Location
Tokyo Japan
Usu, what is an Usu you ask?

It is the bottom part of the tools used to make Mochi, what is Mochi? That is the pounded rice them love here in Japan.

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This is a typical Mochitsuki

Here in my neighbourhood we do this the first Sunday in October, a couple of years ago I got involved, they found out that I've been doing this event a my friends house down in Zushi for many years and I know that I'm doing, so they wanted the help, also it turns out at just under fifty years of age (at the time) I was a good fifteen years younger than almost any of the other guys participating. Well it was not long after the first event when saw the hammers or Kine (Key-Neh) that they were using were in bad shape, they get busted up after constant use, so I put the heads on my lathe and fixed them right up, made them nice and clean again and they were pleased. One of the kine was in really bad shape and I ended up shortening it a lot and making it much smaller in diameter too, I shortened the handle and declared it a kids size kine. This did not go over so well, they were not really interested in having the kids participate. I thought about this a bit and I decided that this was really a bad idea. Most of the guys doing this event will be gone in another 10 to 15 years, and there are hardly any younger people participating, so last year I just grabbed some kids and let them have a go with the kids size kine, the kids LOVED it, so did the young parents. The big wigs got all sorts of excuses that is was not safe, we did not have time for the kids to do this etc. We have only one Usu, or base do do this in here is what it looks like....

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Well they are not cheap, anywhere from $800 to $1200 depending on size.

I thought that if I make a smaller kids sized one and make some kid sized tools then they will have to let the kids do this event.

After all, if we are not doing this for the kids then why are we doing it? We lose money on it every year, and like I said, there are no younger people asked to participate. I asked some guys that I know who have kids if they would be interested and they were VERY interested, they told me that they used to do this at the school, but now they don't and that as kids they used to have a chance to do it other places too, but now it is becoming rare, so this event that the neighbourhood association puts on it kind of a last chance.

For the younger kids I will make different tools, they are like this....

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I'll make some that size and a bit smaller too. I figure that if I just give them the tools and the Usu they will have to let the kids participate, if they don't I'll stop helping.

I feel really strongly about this, I think it is really short sighted of the town association to not involve the younger people in the neighbourhood.

OK I have one large chunk of Keyaki, the much hated Japanese Elm, in stock....

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That is my Estwing hammer for scale

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I dug out the new electric chainsaw and cut off the bottom chunk

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And a slice from the bottom to make is as square as possible

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I mounted it on my faceplate


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With some more carving I got it on my lathe

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Getting it to this point took some work, let me tell you.

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I thought that I would try to core out a depression in the top, nope that is my carbide tipped coring tool with a chip in it, yep this stuff is HARD

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1/2" bowl gouge, might be hard to see but the nose or tip of the tool is missing a chunk, this stuff is HARD.

OK break out the EWT carbide cutters...........


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Sigh.... shattered like glass, and I was taking extremely light cuts.

OK I finally got it down a good six inches, mainly using a pull cut from the center to the outside.

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Of course I found a void, so I chiseled it out and I will fill that with epoxy.

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I'll have to fill it at least twice, as the void is so large I cannot place the Usu in such a way that the epoxy will fill the whole thing in one go.

I'll also be drilling out the pith in the Usu and filling that with another piece of Keyaki so it won't split over time.

I looked into how these are made and I found out that they used to be shaped when the wood was fairly green by hand with a specially shaped adze, but I did find this picture.....

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This fellow is sanding the inside of a Usu, but notice the HUGE lathe in the background? That is no wood turning lathe that is a metal work lathe.

I always said this stuff was tough!

Wish me luck!
 
I heard somewhere that that stuff is hard? :p

Looks like kind of a fun project despite the challenges. I remember getting some mochi when we live in Hawaii, it is interesting stuff all right. I don't know but I'm guessing the stuff we got was made with some sort of commercial process. I know there were a couple of folks on Kauai that occasionally still made a batch (a buddies family had a get together to do it once when we lived there, but i've never seen it done or actually had the handmade stuff). It would definitely be a real shame to see the tradition not get carried on.
 
Thanks everyone!

I got some more work done on the Usu, I filled two voids with epoxy, and did more sanding, this is almost done!

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The void on the bottom/side was huge after I picked out all the loose bark etc, I put nearly 100 grams of epoxy in there, that is a LOT.

I need to get some more and fill in all the holes, I guess that much epoxy going off at one time created a lot of heat bubbles, live and learn!

Cheers!
 
Kudos to you Stu for making this unit and standing up for the kids. I agree on the view that the association is short sighted in not considering how the traddition would pass on if the kids and younger families are not involved.
I am amazed at what you manage to get turned on your lathe, and unreal to see how hard that wood is.

This stamping of rice is very much the same as what still goes on all over rural Africa today except the ingredient is usually white maize or dried kasava root.
You can see how similar the tools are. :)
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gYFAxqWLuD8


Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
Thanks Rob.

The rice we are pounding is steamed first and makes more of a paste.

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These are the type of mochi balls we make.

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Here are some more, these have the sweet bean paste inside them.

Cheers!
 
Very cool! I am also surprised that the community doesn't see the value in getting the younger generations involved. It is crazy how hard that would is. I had never heard of this; I had to go look up mochi just to see what it was all about. Kudos to you for sticking to your guns.
 
This is neat Stu. I used to go to the local temple at New Years. For about five dollars you could take a turn. I think the reason is they are afraid their hands will get smashed. In my experience it takes two people to make Mochida. One to pound and one to stick his hand in and turn the mochi between strokes. Children make mistakes, they are learning. I notice that the children are using a straight mallet. This would seem to eliminate the much of the risk factor.

I do not understand why they do not involve the kids. I always thought that was one of the reasons it was done. It is a great community or shrine event. By the way, every year at least one or two elderly choke and often die eating Mochida. It gets stuck in their throat.

Stu, I love the way you get involved in your community.
 
Has anyone used auto body filler. I did repairs to the garage man door that had rot along the bottom and up the sides a bit. No idea how the filler stood up, sold the house 11 yrs ago.
I bet that body filler would work well, but I do not have any on hand, so I went with the epoxy.

Very cool! I am also surprised that the community doesn't see the value in getting the younger generations involved. It is crazy how hard that would is. I had never heard of this; I had to go look up mochi just to see what it was all about. Kudos to you for sticking to your guns.

Yeah I don't get it either. :huh:

This is neat Stu. I used to go to the local temple at New Years. For about five dollars you could take a turn. I think the reason is they are afraid their hands will get smashed. In my experience it takes two people to make Mochida. One to pound and one to stick his hand in and turn the mochi between strokes. Children make mistakes, they are learning. I notice that the children are using a straight mallet. This would seem to eliminate the much of the risk factor.

I do not understand why they do not involve the kids. I always thought that was one of the reasons it was done. It is a great community or shrine event. By the way, every year at least one or two elderly choke and often die eating Mochida. It gets stuck in their throat.

Stu, I love the way you get involved in your community.

I've made up some of the straight pounding sticks, as you will see, and while I agree that the chance of getting hit is higher with an inexperienced person, the vast majority of the guys doing this have almost no idea, I have to give them a refresher course on it every year, and they only go one pounder at a time, they almost NEVER go two at once, and I think they would run away screaming if I suggested three at once, I've done three at once, with one guy turing the mochi in the Usu, it takes some timing but you would be surprised at how easy it is, it is a real "Human" thing to do, it somehow feels natural to work in a group like that, or at least it does to me.

Here you can see three guys pounding the mochi together, they don't have a turner as a fourth, but you can get the idea....


The super fast bit at the end is just for show I'm sure.
 
Back to the progress I'm making.

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I dug some old Keyaki logs out that I had and chopped them up with the chainsaw, the mounted them on the lathe.

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This is the smaller Kine (Key-Neigh) that I'll make a light weight hammer from.

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This is the second one I turned it will be the larger adult sized Kine (Hammer)

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Here are the two Kine heads with the Usu I have finished.

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This is a store bought white oak handle that I'll fix onto the larger head.

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Now I have this old piece of cherry, it is badly cracked so is not of much use, but I bet I can split some staves off of it and make some handles.

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Yep, badly cracked.

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Some blows with the axe and some work on the bandsaw and I have a couple of good handle blanks

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The spoke shave is sure a useful tool in this job!

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This piece of cherry will be sued for making the kids style of Kine

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That is where I'm at, one Usu done, two Kine heads done, one Kine handle done, and two kids style Kine done.

I need to make a V-mount to hold the two Kine heads so I can drill holes in them and then go to work with some sharp chisels to make the round hole rectangular shaped to fit the handles.

Cheers!
 
It's great to see this plan coming together Stu. With the appropriate-sized equipment and some keen younger parents, I'm sure the elders will see the wisdom of it. They're obviously open to new ideas, I heard there was even a foreigner taking a turn last year :)
Good for you!
 
Well I finally got this all together and delivered it tonight, they are having a meeting about the event next weekend, the 5th of October.

I think that they have come around to my way of thinking, it helps that I gave them for free, all the tools they need......

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They wanted to pay me some token amount, I told them the best pay for me is to see the kids use these and get new people involved in the event, that will be more than enough pay for me. Besides I'm not really out of pocket any money, the store bought handles and other sundries might have cost me $25, not a big deal.

The wood is all from the local Shinto Shrine, so that kind of made them special too.

Cheers!
 
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