“Oyatsu” [Afternoon refreshment], c. 1950. A stew kettle hangs over the irori (“hearth”), with grilled mochi (or onigiri?) also being prepared. Unknown woodblock artist. From a small series of woodblock print postcards produced during the Occupation for sale to Allied troops and postwar tourists.

See also:
Picking persimmons, unknown artist, c. 1960.
“A Bamboo Horse”, boys on bamboo stilts [takeuma], c. 1910.

“Sanji no oyatsu in Japanese reads ‘the 3 o’clock snack’ …[I]ts origin is said to be from the time 八刻 or ‘yatsudoki’, which refers to the time from 2 to 4 p.m., [was] used in the Edo period. So ‘oyatsu’ used to mean that time between lunch and dinner, a time for some food, and a short break.

“It’s interesting because every country has a history of snacking or break time; consider one of the origins of Western snack time: England’s world-famous afternoon tea.

“In Japan, however, yatsudoki was a snack time developed by the working class. Now ‘oyatsu’ refers to a snack regardless of what time it is, but the roots of the term persist today.”

– A Japanese Style of Snacking That Diverts Cravings for Oreos, by Kaki Okumura, Medium.com, Sept. 23, 2020