There are still a few other examples of rice cakes with the name "chikara-mochi" is used to, but these are isolated examples, so it is impossible to put much significance on them. We can only hope that, in the future, if many similar cases appear, our assumptions will have a little more certainty. Miwa Shrine in Nagareyama Town, Shimousa Province holds a jingara-mochi Shinto ritual on January 8, which seems to have been one of the powers of the New Year. On this day, young parishioners go up to the worship hall and compete for kagami-mochi. It is said that if the rice cake is cracked, it is a sign of good luck (Higashi Katsushika Gunshi). This means that the chikara-mochi that is placed in the patriarch's rice bowl is distributed to all members of the family, and it is thought that people compete to get even a small amount of extra rice cake, but the reason why a missing piece is considered important is not clear yet. Next, as mentioned above, in Kimitsu County, there is a superstition that eating a piece of rice cake gives you strength (reported by Kiyoko Segawa). I don't know whether this is called chikara-mochi if I remember a person in Tokyo who said something similar. In Haga County, Shimotsuke Province, the last piece of this rice cake is called debae-mochi. It is said that if a woman eats it, she will be debae (Tabi to Densetsu, Vol. 8, No. 10). This term refers to a woman who has a good appearance. It was the person's ideal before marriage who wanted to look more beautiful than usual when wearing a costume for a special day, the ideal corresponded to a man's longing for strength. The "chikara-mochi" in Izumo and Hoki are round rice cakes, and while this may seem different as it is a scrap, if we consider the strange custom of "kakushi-mochi" (hidden rice cakes) that was practiced in the houses of villages in the northern part of Hitachi Province, it can be imagined that they are related. This suggests that a custom similar to those found in various parts of the San'in region was once practiced in the Kanto area as well. Kakushi-mochi is two slightly flat white and red kagami-mochi, which is also made on the day of pounding rice cake at the end of the year and is hidden in a storeroom and not allowed to be touched by even family members. On the day of entering the mountain, January 5, take them out, stack them, cut them in half, and cut out from the two semicircles four squares, white and red. The four corners are cut off into triangles and taken as offerings to the mountain god, while the patriarch eats the rest of the octagon alone, and all the remaining pieces are distributed to the family. On the 11th day, when a ceremony is held to cultivate the field with a hoe, the other half of the kakushi-mochi is cut in the same way, and only the corner of the triangle is offered to the god; the patriarch eats the center part, and the other parts of the kakushi-mochi are eaten by other family members (Tabi to Densetsu No. 79). Although the name chikara-mochi doesn't appear to be used here, the ritual style is very similar to the chikara-mochi of Izumo and Hoki. Judging from this, the scraps of hishimochi* made in March, or the crusts of stretched rice puddings made in Tokyo, or the crumbs may be made when cutting kakimochi or arare, used to be given by a fixed person and manner, which is still observed in some families. Mawashi-mochi made in various parts of the Ou region on New Year's Day, and rice cakes given as gifts to relatives and old friends in northern Shinano are all cut into squares and kept at home. This was also performed during a mutual feast between gods and humans, and in the end, complicated rituals such as kakushi mochi (hidden rice cakes) might have been born. At any rate, there is no way to dispute that rice cakes were believed to be a power source for the people who ate them. On New Year's Day, people at home provide rice cakes to utensils and even livestock, and even now there is a custom to greet elderly people who have left a branch family with rice cakes written with their addressees. There are various forms of parents (oya) such as shuto-oya, nakodo-oya, nazuke-oya, kane-oya, triage-oya, hiroi-oya, and shigoto-oya**, and people who don't have such parents are still rare, but oya-no-mochi (rice cake for parents) was mainly given at the beginning of the year as a duty on an ordinary day. It is called chikara-mochi in a mountain village in Tsukui, Sagami Province.

parishioner（名）教区民、氏子

crack（動）割る

superstition（名）迷信

appearance（名）容姿、容貌

ideal（名）理想

correspond（動）対応する

storeroom（名）物置

semicircle（名）半円

patriarch（名）家長

octagon（名）八角形

scrap（名）かけら

crust（名）硬い表面、パンの耳

crumb（名）パンくず

*hishimochi: A food made by layering red, white and green lozenge-shaped rice cakes, which is made at the Doll's festival on March 3.

**shuto-oya...: Shut-oya is a father-in-law. Nakodo-oya is a matchmaker. Nazuke-oya is a godparent. Kane-oya is a person who helps when teeth are dyed black in the coming-of-age ceremony. Toriage-oya was a person who took away a child during childbirth. Hiroi-oya is the person who picks up a sickly child during a ceremony of temporary abandonment. Shigoto-oya is a master.

力餅という名の適用は他にもまだ少しあるが孤立した例ばかりなのでこれらに大きな意義をもたせることはできない。ただ将来もし似かよった事例が多く現れたならば、我々の仮定ももう少し確実性をそなえるだろうという希望だけはあげられるのである。下総国流山町の三輪神社では一月八日にジンガラ餅の神事があるが、これも一つの正月の力であったらしい。この日は氏子の若者たちが拝殿に上がって鏡餅の取り合いをする。その餅が欠けていると幸運の印であるという（東葛飾郡誌）。これは家の主人の茶碗に盛った力餅を家族の全員に分配するのと同じ意味で、それを少しでも余分に分配しようとして争うとも考えられるが、欠けがあるのをめでたいとみなすことの意味はまだ明らかになっていない。次に、上記の君津郡では餅の切れ端を一切れを食べると力が出るという俗信がある（瀬川氏）。これは力餅と呼ばれるかどうかは知らないが、東京にもややこれと近いことを言っている者がいたと記憶する。下野国芳賀郡では、この餅の最後の切れ端をデバエ餅と呼び、女がこれを食べるとデバエすると言われている（旅と伝説八巻一〇号）。デバエとは出栄という意味で、晴の衣裳を着た時に普段よりも美しく見えることという嫁入前の者の理想であり、ちょうど男子の腕力と対応するものであった。出雲や伯耆の力餅は丸餅であり、これは切れ端なのでそれらとは別のもののように思われるが、常陸国北部の村々の家で行われていた「隠し餅」という奇習を中心に置いて考えると両者は関係があり、かつては関東地方にも山陰各地の事例と近しい風習が行われていた痕跡ではないかとも想像できる。隠し餅はやや平らな白と赤の二枚の鏡餅で、やはり年末の餅搗きの日に作られ、納戸に隠しておいて家の者にも手を触れさせない。一月五日の山入りの日にそれを取り出して重ねたまま半分に分けてその二枚の半円から白と赤の四つの四角形を取る。それらの四隅を三角形に切り落したものだけを山の神の供物として持って行き、残りの八角形の部分は家長が一人で食べ、残りの切れはしはすべて家族に分配するのである。十一日の鍬入れの日にも残りの半分の隠し餅を同じ様に切って三角形の隅だけを神様に捧げ、中央の部分を家長、その他の部分を他の家族が食べる（旅と伝説七九号）。力餅という名はここにはないようだが、方式は出雲や伯耆の力餅と非常に似ていて、こっちのほうがが更に精確である。ここから推察すると三月に作る菱餅の切れ端もしくは東京の熨斗餅の耳、それからかき餅やあられを切るときのたち屑のようなものも、以前はこれを受容する人や作法が決まっていて、それがまだ若干の家では守られているのではないかと思う。奥羽各地の正月のまわし餅や信濃北部で親族や旧友に贈遺する餅はいずれも四角形に切って切れ端を自身の家で保管するらしい。これも神と人との相互的饗宴の場合にも行われてついに隠し餅のような複雑な方式がうまれたのではなかったのではないか。とにかく餅が食べた人の力になると考えられていたことだけは争いようがないだろう。正月には家にいる人に限り、道具や家畜にまでそれぞれ正月の餅を提供するほか、分家した年上の人々にも必ず宛名入りの餅を持って礼に行く風習は今でもある。親と名のつく者は男・親・仲人親・名付親・鉄漿親・取上親・拾い親・仕事親など少しずつ形をかえてそういう親を持たない者は今でもまだ稀であるが、これに対する通常の日の義理としては、以前は年頭の親の餅が主であった。相模国津久井の山村では、それを力餅と呼んでいる者がいるのである。