Mitama

Glutinous rice steamed together with black soybeans. The rice's chewy bounce meets the beans' mealy texture and simple sweetness. The beans are cooked separately and added afterward so their color doesn't bleed into the rice, giving a striking contrast between white rice and dark beans; in some areas it is finished with a dusting of roasted soybean flour, it is said.

Black soybeans simmered in sugar and soy sauce are mixed into steamed glutinous rice before eating. Some areas leave the beans unseasoned, others cook them sweet, it is said. In some places the rice is steamed, topped with the beans, and dusted with soybean flour; keeping the rice and beans separate is said to be so the beans' dark color doesn't stain the white rice.

Red rice made with adzuki beans is said to evoke the color of fire, making it unsuited to occasions like a house-raising ceremony where good omens matter, and a custom of using this black-and-white rice instead for celebratory meals is said to have spread for that reason. For the same reason, a whole fish served head-and-tail is said to be a blue-skinned fish like horse mackerel rather than a red sea bream — a concern for good omens said to reach into every corner of the table.