Dec14
Kanji in Ascending Stroke Order
Strokes:14
餅
Kun: もち、 もちい
On: ヘイ、 ヒョウ
Words of the day: 鏡餅 (New Year offering consisting of two mochi stacked on each other with a bitter orange on top, cut and eaten on January 11), 尻餅 (falling on one’s backside; mochi tied to a baby’s back on their first birthday), 画餅 (something useless; picture of rice cakes)
Maybe a rather personal choice for today, as mochi is one of my favourite things to eat. But mochi are also prepared for many special occasions, one of which is New Year’s, so I thought it fitting for an advent calendar. It’s a Jōyō kanji taught in junior high, and WK level 42.
Here’s the stroke order:
And variations:
Edit: Well, I’m confused. I started writing it, and realized the strokes were 15. Jisho says: 14 strokes (also 15). Looking at the variations above, there really is a 14-stroke variation too. Here they are side by side:
, 
I don’t know if there’s a preference for one or the other, or any substantial difference. Is it okay to write it either way?