Seven days around the spring and autumnal equinox (three days before and after equinox) are called higan in Japan. Higan is an important Japanese Buddhist event which people pray for their ancestors' souls. Usually, people go to their family's graves and clean their houses, offering fresh flowers and some food to a family Buddhist altar. Typical offering food are dango (dumplings) and ohagi (sweet rice balls.)
Ohagi are rice balls similar to mochi and are covered with sweet beans, sesame, or so on. The name, ohagi, came from autumn flower, hagi (bush clover.) Same rice balls cooked in the spring equinox are traditionally called botamochi. The name, botamochi, came from spring flower, botan. Nowadays, it's common to use the word, ohagi, instead of botamochi throughout the year.
The most popular ohagi topping is anko (sweet azuki beans) as anko is often used in Japanese sweets. Another popular topping is sesame. Black sesame seeds are used for ohagi topping. Also, soybean flour called kinako is used for the topping. Azuki beans, sesame seeds, and kinako flour are all nutritious, so ohagi can be good sweets for you. To make ohagi, glutious rice called mochi gome is used. See How to Make Ohagi Rice Balls
