Having onigiri on hanami time! That one was made by our skilled friend, Sara.
Onigiri (or omusubi, the other name for the same thing), the little sticky rice ball has really become popular outside of Japan, in large part it seems due to its iconic status spread by anime and manga. It is very popular for carry-along lunches and you can easily get it at conveniences shops. Besides that, this particular food can also be part of a meal.
From my research about making onigiri, it must be made with sticky, short- or medium-grain rice. Long grain type rice just will not stick together sufficiently. So, depending on what type of rice used, you cannot have success enough. Concern about the salt is important to flavor the onigiri - either on the outside, with a salty filling inside, or salty sprinkles.
Writings dating back as far as the 1600s evidence that many samurai stored rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves as a quick lunchtime meal at war, but the origins of onigiri are much earlier. Before the use of chopsticks became widespread in the Nara period, rice was often rolled into a small ball so that it could be easily picked up.
Making a traditional onigiri.
This is what arrived in a natural wrapping of bamboo sheath.
From the Kamakura period to the early Edo period, onigiri was used as a quick meal. This made sense as cooks simply had to think about making enough onigiri and did not have to concern themselves with serving. These onigiri were simply a ball of rice flavored with salt. Nori, the seaweeds leaves, did not became widely available until the Meiji period when farming of nori and making them into a sheet became widespread. Then, having onigiri is also a continuity of history, even though it had changed its shape and fillings.
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