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An East Asian man pounds hot steamed rice with a wooden mallet to make traditional New Year mochi

About this photo

Steam rises from a metal pot of hot glutinous rice as a person uses a wooden mallet to prepare festive homemade mochi. This warm, cozy scene works well for holiday food features and cultural tradition content.

Prompt: “East Asian man in his forties pounding steamed rice with a wooden mallet for New Year mochi” — AI-generated and reviewed for quality before listing.

Editor's note (7.5/10): Well composed, naturally lit, closely matching the mochi preparation brief with only very minor, non-obvious hand detail imperfections visible on close inspection.

Also searched as: mochi making · steamed rice pounding · traditional japanese food · holiday cooking

Direct file: 1536×1024 JPG

Using this photo — common questions

Can I use this man pounding mochi for new year photo for free, commercially?
Yes. This photo is licensed CC BY 4.0, so you can use it in commercial and personal projects — websites, ads, social media, videos and client work — at no cost. The one condition is the credit: “Man Pounding Mochi For New Year” by BudgetPixel AI (https://budgetpixel.com/images/man-pounding-mochi-for-new-year-cbef8eab) — CC BY 4.0
What size is this photo?
The original is 1536×1024 pixels (JPG); it also downloads at 1280 px and 640 px on the long side. Its landscape shape suits blog headers, article images, presentation slides and social link previews.
Is this photo AI-generated?
Yes. It was generated by AI from the prompt “East Asian man in his forties pounding steamed rice with a wooden mallet for New Year mochi” and it passed an AI review for quality and safety before listing. The downloaded file carries the IPTC “AI-generated” marker and its licence details.
Where can I find more holidays & seasons images like this?
Browse the Holidays & Seasons collection, see the similar images below, or describe the exact picture you need and generate it free on this page.

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curl -G https://api.budgetpixel.com/v1/stock/images \
  --data-urlencode "query=man pounding mochi for new year" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BUDGETPIXEL_API_KEY"
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