Nakatanidou

中谷堂

Watch lightning-fast mochi pounding, eat it warm

⚠ Cash only

Hours

Daily 10:00–18:00, earlier if sold out (July 2026 review); check the official site for closing notices

Budget

Yomogi mochi ¥200 each

Address

29 Hashimoto-cho, at the south end of the Higashimuki arcade

The mochi shop where two pounders shout and slam the rice faster than your eyes can follow. It opened in Nara in 1992. Fresh mugwort mochi is wrapped round sweet bean paste, rolled in toasted soy flour and handed over in paper, still warm enough that you eat it on the spot. The pounding only happens at set times, posted outside.