For the New Year, at one’s home and elsewhere, a daidai, 橙, bitter orange, is placed on the top of the kagami mochi, 鏡餅, mirror-mochi. The number of leaves left on the daidai is three leaves for Amida, Buddha of Compassion and Shinran, founder of New Sect Pure Land Buddhism, and two leaves for successive generations. The reasons for offering the daidai are that it bears fruit in winter, it does not fall off meaning that prosperity will continue, etc. When serving a bowl of ma-tcha, 抹茶, powder-tea, a sweet is offered and eaten before drinking the tea. The sweet is called an o-ka-shi, お菓子, hon.-sweet-of, and...