Mochi is a rice cake pounded into a soft, sticky texture, and in Japan it has been tied to celebration and spiritual power for over a thousand years. Round white mochi was seen as holding a spirit, and a late 8th century provincial record tells of a rich man who shot an arrow at a flat mochi, after which it turned into a white bird and flew away. In the Heian period, emperors and nobles used mochi at births, weddings and New Year, and long strands symbolized long life. The stacked kagami mochi, two spheres topped with a bitter orange, began among samurai in the Muromachi period. Families still place one on home altars on December 28, and avoid cutting it with a knife, breaking it with a wooden hammer instead.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.