Kusa mochi

A Japanese rice cake colored and flavored with mugwort, usually filled with sweet red bean paste.

Kusa mochi: Round deep green kusa mochi rice cakes with a soft matte surface, one cut open to show dark red bean paste, on a small plate
  • Traditional and regional desserts
  • Japan

Also called: Yomogi mochi

Kusa mochi, also called yomogi mochi, gets its green color and grassy, herbal aroma from yomogi, Japanese mugwort. Young mugwort leaves are boiled, chopped and pounded into glutinous rice or rice flour dough. The dough is then wrapped around a filling of sweet red bean paste or simply dusted with roasted soybean flour.

It is a spring sweet in Japan, when fresh mugwort is available, and is associated with the Girls' Day festival in March. The texture is soft and chewy like other mochi, and the herb adds a fresh, slightly bitter note that balances the sweet filling. It is best eaten fresh.

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Sources

Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.

  1. Kusa-mochi (Mochi mixed with mugwort) | Our Regional Cuisines, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF)