THE
FESTIVALS OF SHINTO
Chapter 1: Shogatsu
New Years Day in Japan
Many feel that
Shogatsu,
the Japanese New Year festival, is the most important festival of the year.
The holiday actually runs from December 31st to January 7th, New
Years Eve and New Years Day being the most important days. Many of the
traditions and customs associated with Shogatsu are originally Chinese
in origin, but many more are uniquely Japanese.
In general, the
start of the new year also means a new start in one’s personal life. Before
January 1st, the house and business are thoroughly cleaned, all that is
old is thrown away and the same attitude is directed at debts, obligations
and problems in relationships; they are all cleared up and resolved.
The idea of purification and banishing evil is important at this time,
something Shinto and Buddhist customs have brought to the holiday. Kadomatsu
(boughs of pine, bamboo and sometimes plum) are placed at the entrance
of almost every home and business as well as in beautiful smaller arrangements
inside the house or apartment to bless the dwelling. As New Year's Day
approaches, people begin preparing an assortment of special foods, called
osechi,
that are difficult to make. Special balls of kanami mochi, a kind
of rice paste, are placed on the family shrine or in a prominent place
in the house along with beautiful decorations. On the 7th day of January,
this dried mochi will be broken into pieces, fried and then consumed with
glee. Before January 1st, all the nengajou or New Year's Day cards
must be sent, hopefully so that they arrive on the appropriate day. These
cards often depict the animal of the new year, called the eto. The
eto
for 1993 is the rooster, and aside from cards, it will also appear on emma
(prayer boards to be left at shrines), charms, flags, t-shirts, toys, posters
and numerous other items. The eto for each year follows the old
12-animal Chinese Zodiac. |
Hatumode at
Hachimangu Jinja.
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At midnight on New
Year’s Eve, no matter where you are in Japan, you will probably hear the
joyanokane,
the ringing of a temple or shrine bell 108 times as the new year is born.
If you are very enthusiastic, you can participate in the tradition of staying
up all night and viewing the sunrise on the first morning of the new year.
It is traditional to do this from the top of a mountain, but in Tokyo any
skyscraper will do.
Eto (animal symbol0 of the
Year of the Rooster at Sensoji.
Emma (prayer plaques) and omikuji (fortunes)
ofered at a shrine on New Year's Day.
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New Years day
is the big festival day. Almost everyone dresses in their finest suits
or kimono and performs hatsumode, a visit to a temple or shrine
to pray for good luck in the coming year. Many people also leave their
old omamori (charms) to be destroyed and buy new ones for various reasons.
The most important one to buy is the hamaya, a charm in the shape
of an arrow that is hung in the house to protect it and the family for
the coming year. The family then usually visits all the relatives (or visa
versa) and the children are given otoshidama, small envelopes of
gift-money that usually contain about Y5000 to Y10000. Several traditional
games are also often played by the kimono-clad children, one of which is
hayoeta,
a badminton-like game played with a decorative ball and ornate paddles.
Another is a very old card game called karutatori which dates back
to the nobility of the Heian era. These beautiful cards have verses of
ancient Japanese poetry on them and you must try to match the parts of
the poems with those recited by a referee. There is another game that requires
dice and a special paper with a number of images printed on it. It’s called
sugoroku
and the object is to toss the dice so that special number combinations
land on certain pictures. Some Shogatsu toys that are traditionally played
with are the koma (top) and takoage (kite). There is a very
popular children's song called Oshogatsu that mentions these two
toys and many more.
| After the games,
a special piece of luck-attracting art is created, a number of Chinese
characters are beautifully written on a piece of paper that is then displayed.
This is called kakezame and though the tradition is originally Chinese,
it is now very much a part of Japanese Shogatsu.
In the afternoon
comes the big New Year's Day dinner of osechi foods and possibly
a special soup made with mochi called ozoni. After this meal, everyone
prepares to begin the new year in as cheerful and prosperous a fashion
as possible.
That night, if
you are lucky, you will dream of one of the three traditional lucky symbols
that guarantees you a great year: Mt. Fuji, a flying hawk or an eggplant! |
Selling Hamaya -
special New Year's charms.
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