West Los Angeles Buddhist Temple held its annual mochitsuki on Dec. 15.

Although the volunteers were asked to come at 8 a.m., the crew steaming the mochigome?(special rice used to make mochi) arrived at the crack of dawn.

At right: Akira Reibold, granddaughter of Connie Yahata, is a mochi duster in training.

Lori Yamasaki and Joko Tamura were part of the mochi-weighing crew.

More than 40 people helped out and at the end of the day, the temple packaged more than 450 pounds of mochi.

It was a long day of forming, dusting, weighing and packaging, but all who attended had a lot of fun. This is a tradition at the temple that will continue on for years to come.

Photo by CONNIE YAHATA