TRG Info and Advice

At the beginning of the New Year, families gather, give thanks for the previous year’s harvest and pray for next year’s bountiful crop. Pine decorations serve as guides for Toshigami (deities of the year) so the god can visit the house without getting lost, and the shimekazari divides the sacred space, where the Toshigami are enshrined, from the secular areas. Deities are drawn to the two big, round Kagami-mochi (rice cakes). People take a sip of otoso, which drives away evil spirits and brings health, and eat the zouni soup with a rice cake. The rice cakes in the zouni soup are taken from those offered to Toshigami, so that the power and energy of Toshigami can be shared.

Kagamimochi offered to deities are taken down and consumed. The date on which to break the kagamimochi differs from place to place, but it is commonly the 11th of January. You cannot use a knife to cut the kagamimochi where deities are drawn, so a mallet is used instead. Broken pieces of mochi are put into zenzai (sweet red bean soup), or used in other dishes.

According to the old calendar, on the 15th of January will be the first full moon of the year, so it is customary to eat rice porridge made with sweet red beans. In the past women could finally take a break around this time, after working so hard cleaning and preparing food for the New Year holiday, and this is why Koshogatsu is also known as Onna Shogatsu (the women’s New Year). On this day, a bonfire is made using the New Year’s decorations, the previous year’s amulets, and so on, to mark the departure of Toshigami. It is believed that if you eat mochi baked on the fire and touch the smoke, you can spend the year in good shape. There are many other widely held beliefs, too. For example, if you burn the year’s first piece of calligraphy, your handwriting will be refined. This bonfire was originally called “Sangiccho (three ball canes),” because a set of three canes used in court nobles’ ball game were burnt. Since then, it has changed into Sagicho, but in some areas, Sagicho is called something different, such as Tondo and Dondo.

In Japan, children legally become adults at the age of twenty. The Coming-of-Age Ceremony, mostly hosted by local governments, is held to mark the passage, and to celebrate the transition from child to adult. The 15th of January became a national holiday named the Coming-of-Age Day, and today, it is observed on the second Monday of January. On that day, you can see many young men and women clad in gorgeous furisode (long sleeved) kimonos, hakamas, or brand-new suits.

Animal signs were once used as an indication of specific days, and each day was allocated an animal sign. Hatsu-Uma, the First Horse, is celebrated on February 6th, at all Inari shrines around Japan. To commemorate the day of the enshrinement of Inari Okami (a god of abundant harvest) on Mt. Inari, people pay a visit to an Inari shrine. This time of year is considered the best time to start farming. In many places, on Hatsu-Uma, the god of rice paddies is welcomed down from the mountains and into the village, and people pray for a bumper harvest prior to planting.

Joshi means the first Day of Snake in March. There used to be a custom of purifying with water in ancient China. That was integrated with Japan’s ancient tradition of purification by the waterside, an event where paper figures were thrown into rivers to drive evil spirits away. The hina doll festival is considered to have originated from this habit of throwing hina dolls into rivers. Intertwined with playing with dolls, people later started displaying dolls to pray for girls’ healthy growth in the Edo Period, and in some places in Japan, the dolls are connected to marriage. The hina doll festival is celebrated with peach flower sake and yomogi mochi (mugwort rice cake), both of which are considered symbols of a strong life force.

Shanichi is the Dog Day closest to the vernal equinox. Sha indicates a shrine where tutelary deities are enshrined. People make visits to their tutelary shrines and pray for rich harvests. Shanichi was considered the day to welcome the deities of rice paddies and mountains, who govern agriculture, and was also considered the sign to start farming. There is another Shanichi in autumn, when people visit their tutelary shrine to give thanks for the harvest and to see off the gods of rice paddies and mountains. These customary events are no longer common.

As many of you might be aware, many merrymakers throw parties under cherry trees, enjoying the beautiful pink sakura flowers, along with sake and food. Today, the word sakura mostly indicates the Someiyoshino variety, but sakura in olden times meant the mountain cherry flowers that bloom in the woods. Cherry flower viewing was originally the norm among court nobles. But, apart from that, farmers performed religious and agricultural rites, to welcome in the deities of rice paddies and to divine the year’s rice harvest, by throwing celebrations under cherry trees when flowers came into bloom. Cherry blossom viewing evolved into a pastime during medieval times, and became even more popular in the Edo Period.

Boys and girls turning thirteen pay a visit to the Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva, which is thought to have eternal wisdom, with the hope of receiving happiness and sagacity. It is custom not to look back after praying until you have passed through the torii or gate, or you might lose what you gained from the Bodhisattva. This Jusan Mairi event does not take place very often, but is more likely to be seen in the Kansai area.

The eighty-eighth day from Risshun (Beginning of Spring) is called Hachijuhachiya (the eighty-eighth night). This day is considered to be a good day for farming, such as sowing rice seeds or picking tea leaves. Tea leaf picking widely takes place around this time of year. It is said that you can spend the whole year in good shape if you drink the tea brewed from tea leaves picked on Hachijuhachiya day.

Tango no Sekku came from China, where rituals to drive away evil spirits were performed when illnesses and disasters started to prevail around the rainy season. In ancient China, an alcoholic beverage made with iris flowers was consumed, but in Japan, we take a bath with iris leaves and stems afloat in hot water. Chinese legend has it that carp swim up rapid streams and turn into dragons, and this is why carp streamers are raised high in the sky, to wish for social success. Families with boys also display samurai warrior dolls with armour, a helmet, and a sword, to pray for boys’ healthy growth. Tango no Sekku is celebrated with kashiwamochi (rice cakes with a red bean paste filling wrapped in oak leaves). Oak leaves do not fall until new leaves sprout, so they are considered an auspicious item that brings family prosperity. Another custom, that of eating chimaki (made by wrapping pounded, steamed rice powder, or arrowroot powder in five long, striped bamboo leaves and then steaming them), supposedly originates from an incident to commemorate Qu Yuan, an ancient Chinese poet. Today, Tango no Sekku is a designated national holiday called Children’s Day.

Around this time of year when the rainy season starts, ume plum trees bear a lot of fruit, and green ume plums begin to be sold at supermarkets. Preparing salty dried ume plums (umeboshi), umeshu (plum wine), and other plum-related things, is called “ume-shigoto” (ume plum work). Ripe, yellow plums are made into salty, dried umeboshi (pickled plums) and umezu (plum vinegar), and hard, green plums are made into umeshu, syrup, juice, and so on.

The 30th of June, which is the halfway point of a year, is the day on which people try to wash their sins away, to get rid of any misfortune accumulated in the past six months, and to wish for well-being for the remainder of the year. White paper figures cut out in the shape of human beings are thrown into rivers. There is also a tradition of walking through Chinowa, a huge ring made of reeds, which is set up under torii gates or in front of the worship hall in shrines.