Botamochi is eaten as sacred food as offering during the weeks of the spring and the autumn Higan in Japan.

Another name for this kind of confection is ohagi (おはぎ), the origin and meaning of which is a subject of debate, with some saying [1] that ohagi uses a slightly different texture of azuki paste but is otherwise almost identical.

It is made in autumn and some recipe variations in both cases call for a coating of soy flour to be applied to the ohagi after the azuki paste.

Botamochi is the modern name for the dish kaimochi (かいもち) mentioned in the Heian period text Uji Shūi Monogatari (宇治拾遺物語).

[citation needed] The proverb Tana kara botamochi (棚からぼたもち), literally "a botamochi falls down from a shelf", means "receiving a windfall", "a lucky break".