This is one of the oldest businesses in Japan.
And aburi-mochi is the only food on the menu.
For over 1,000 years,
the restaurant has served worshippers
who visit the Shinto shrine next door
to pray for good health.
Many believe eating the roasted rice cakes
will protect them from diseases, too.
The shop has survived fires, civil and world wars,
and even smallpox epidemics.
Through it all, 25 generations of one family kept it going,
blending food and faith.
But COVID-19 has threatened the business
more than anything else.
We visited Ichimonjiya Wasuke in Kyoto
to see how it is still standing.
It all starts with the skewers.
Owner Naomi Hasegawa cuts them from a special bamboo
grown for ritual purposes around the shrine.
That's why they are considered sacred
and treated with as much care as any ingredient.
The important job of sterilizing them
is only for the okami,
the owner and manager.
Next, she makes the sweet miso dipping sauce.
Naomi knows the recipe by heart.
She measures ingredients by eye
and feels the mixture for consistency.
She learned it all from her aunt, the former okami.
She combines today's batch with yesterday's leftovers
for a richer flavor.
Ichiwa uses a machine to make the mochi dough
instead of the traditional method
of steaming and pounding with a mallet.
Every day, she makes the first mochi
as an offering for the gods and her ancestors.
Then it's time to put it all together.
Naomi and her employees work on a woven mat
covered in roasted soybean powder.
They cover the mochi in it,
then measure thumb-sized pieces to stick on a skewer.
To roast the mochi,
she shuffles them until they reach a consistent dark color.
It only takes about one minute,
but it requires close attention,
since the mochi could easily overcook,
or even worse, the bamboo could burn.
She is even particular about the charcoal she uses.
This is binchotan, a high-quality oak charcoal
that's much harder than regular coals.
Aburu means to roast.
So this is what makes the snack aburi-mochi.
She dips the aburi-mochi into the miso sauce
while they're still warm.
Eleven skewers and a cup of green tea cost 500 yen,
or just under $5.
Naomi and her predecessor have kept that price steady for
over 30 years,
but have had to bring the number of skewers down from 15.
The Imamiya Shrine that Ichiwa serves
was founded in 994
as Kyoto was suffering from epidemics like smallpox.
Locals worshipped Shinto deities
who were believed to cure diseases
and grant long life.
Naomi says Ichiwa's original founders
served the chief priest
and then started the shop to serve worshippers as well.
They used to give aburi-mochi away for free
and only sometimes received a small gratuity from pilgrims.
From the beginning,
it's been traditional for women in the family
to run the business.
Naomi is the 25th okami to run Ichiwa,
taking over for her aunt 13 years ago.
And she has made a few improvements
to bring the business into the modern age,
like providing insurance to its employees
and installing a time-card system.
But she draws the line at using delivery apps.
Although Ichiwa was born from a time of plague,
nothing could have prepared the staff
for the coronavirus pandemic.
The shop was forced to close for nearly two months in 2020,
and it took on debt to ensure employees were still
getting paid, even while it was shut.
Even the government's national tourism incentive program
wasn't enough to bring many customers back.
Naomi's hopes for the future
lie in the next generation of her family.
She believes her children or nieces and nephews
will take over for her,
but there's no set succession plan.
And that's intentional.
She says she'd enjoy retirement,
but until that day,
there are faithful visitors to feed.