New Year’s Day in Japan:
“Oshogatsu”

Story by Vivienne Mackie and Naoko Sato, Photos by Naoko Sato,
with thanks to her daughter YUI for picture in traditional Japanese costume.

The biggest celebration in Japan is “New Year’s Day”, which is on Jan 1st—but "New Year's period” lasts to Jan 15th.

Most people take a break between the end of December (around 28th or 29th) and Jan 3rd. They usually go back to their hometown where the parents are living. Their family and relatives get together and enjoy having special dinners, called “osechi” in Japanese. Japanese people clean their houses very carefully for this celebration because cleaning means to get rid of all dirt, not only physical but also mental---any sorrow or bad luck in the family. They think that God (Heaven) is coming to their house on New Year’s Day, so they clean and decorate ready for this.

Decorations

The most popular decoration is a rice cake (various sizes) in two layers (“kagami-mochi”). Cedar (“uraziro”) and square white paper are placed under a rice cake and finally a sour orange, seaweed (“konbu”), dried persimmon on top of that. These decorative rice cakes are usually eaten on Jan 11th (“kagamibiraki”), often in the popular sweet red-bean soup (“zenzai”).

Other typical decorations are called “kadomatsu”. These are an arrangement of 3 bamboo sticks standing upright, surrounded with pine and tied with ropes. Very large ones are in public places, like stores, or in front of people’s houses. People believe that “kadomatsu” is a place where God comes down. The other decoration is “simenawa”, made of braided, newly-dried rice straw (like a rope). It usually has cedar, sour orange and a garland of square white paper shapes to make it beautiful. We have “simenawa” at the shrines and in front of the entrance of people’s houses. “Simenawa” means a borderline that separates a sacred place from this world, so it gets rid of the bad luck and evil ahead.

Why do people use rice straw? The Japanese main crop is rice, so they pray for a rich harvest at the beginning of the year.

How do people dispose of the straw decorations?

“We usually bring them to the shrine by Jan 15th, where they’re burned.”

Perhaps the most important part of this celebration is the food, the “OSECHI”.

These are some typical New Year’s dishes included in the “osechi”:

--black beans, which mean that people can live very healthily;

--herring roe, symbolizing plenty, as people wish to have many more children, and pray for prosperity in the future;

--sardine, a small fish, to symbolize a rich harvest;

--sea weed, to indicate happiness and pleasure;

--a sweet paste made from chestnuts and yams, the sugary taste and golden color both indicative of wealth in the old days.

Families usually have “osechi” for 3 or 4 days. Originally people avoided using a burner at this time, so the food was prepared beforehand. Women enjoyed the break from cooking, as the “osechi” only needed serving. On New Year’s Day Japanese people have “ozouni”, a type of soup with rice cake (“omochi”). The kind of soup differs depending on the region, but each family has their own recipe. “For example, my mother uses a soy sauce base but my mother -in -law uses a miso base.”

In the old days, everything was shut for the whole holiday period, so there was nothing in the stores, which is why the “osechi” custom developed. But now, stores and restaurants are often open from January 2nd (some even from New Year’s Day) so the customs are changing.

In Naoko’s family, they serve “osechi” twice on New Year’s Day; once for a long, relaxed brunch, and later for dinner. Traditionally, visitors will drop in, bringing more “osechi” or “sake” (Japanese alcohol), and the party gets bigger as the day progresses.

“Osechi” is served in special boxes, made of wood and lacquered, which are called “ojubako”. Their color is usually black and red combined with gold.

When the boxes of “osechi” are bought at the stores they are very expensive and must be reserved well in advance. People buy new special wooden chopsticks for the “osechi” and after New Year they take the used chopsticks to the shrine, where they are burned.

Visiting the Shrine or Temple

Japanese people have a custom to go on New Year’s Day to the shrine or temple to pray for good luck and health throughout the year.

How to pray at the shrine? To start, they make a bow twice in front of the special praying place at the shrine, then throw small change into a small box, clap their hands twice, then make a bow once. But if they go to a temple, the procedure is different. They only need to throw the small change, and put their hands together, like praying. Shrines are extremely busy and crowded at this time, and some even have police officers patrolling. At the shrines people also buy paper charms, called “omamori” or “ofuda”. These strips of paper have wishes written on them and people can choose which kind of wish or message they want for that year---good health, safe journey, good pregnancy, success at school or work. People keep the charms for the year, either carrying them around, or putting them on the wall to pray in front of. Then they bring the “omamori” to the shrine to be ritually burned----they don’t want to put the special “omamori” in the regular garbage.

Greeting cards

The other big event at New Year for every generation is to mail the “New Year’s” cards to parents, friends and colleagues. Most people think that it’s really hard work, because they usually mail 30-40 or more. But it’s a good way to keep in touch with friends, teachers, and some people from our earlier days, and so the custom remains. We need to buy the cards early, otherwise they will be sold out. Under the address is a printed number, and many of these are lucky numbers. On January 15th, which is the end of the new-year period, the post office announces the winning number. It’s a bit like a lottery, in which all matching numbers win the big prize (bicycles, TVs, for example), and fewer matching numbers get smaller prizes, down to winning some stamps---which is very common. Naoko has often won stamps, but doesn’t know anyone who won a big prize.

Twelve animals (“eto”), found on many Asian calendars

The cycle of twelve animals repeats every twelve years. Each animal is based on old Chinese history. For example, this year, 2007, is the year of wild pig. Next year, 2008, will be the year of the mouse. The order of twelve animals is below.

Mouse→cow →tiger→rabbit→dragon→snake→horse→sheep

→monkey→ bird →dog→ wild pig

The year’s animal is usually put on the” New Year’s card” as a symbol of the year.

Shopping day

A relatively new tradition is that January 2nd is a big shopping day, especially at the department stores. The highlight is “Lucky Bags” (similar to Grab Bags) that contain an assortment of clothes, accessories, and household goods. It’s a lot of fun and very popular, but some stores now issue tickets beforehand, which show what’s inside instead of getting a (perhaps disappointing) surprise.

“Otosidama”

The “Otosidama”---an extra money gift only at New Year---is great fun for kids but a headache for adults, because they wonder how much they should give to kids every year. Adults enclose some money in the special envelope, called “pochibukuro”. Kids enjoy considering what to buy, for example toys, clothes, books, stationery. But they can usually spend only a little money, as the parents regulate how much they can spend. Kids have to deposit the rest of the “otosidama”. Kids can learn how to spend and how to save money. “In my case, I accumulated the “otosidama” for more than 10 years little by little. When I went to the private institute in my high school years, I paid for the tuition by myself. It was very helpful at that time.”

Special games

Some special games are associated with this time, such as flying kites; spinning tops(“koma”); “Sugoroku”, which is ‘stick the features on the face’, akin to ‘pin the tail on the donkey’. People are also blindfolded, but in this game the empty paper face is flat on the floor.

These days, everything is getting more casual and more diverse from the traditional celebration style. For example, many people, particularly the younger generation, send e-mail instead of the New Year’s cards. People buy the “osechi” ready-made at the store without cooking at home. Naoko likes to cook the black beans herself, but tends to buy the other foods---but, in bulk, not the expensive boxes, as she already has a set of boxes in her home. And even the “osechi” has changed a little. It’s more likely to be westernized, as many Japanese now feel that the food is either too salty or too sweet (original preservatives were salt, soy sauce, or sugar). But, it doesn’t matter how they celebrate. Japanese people think that the most important thing is to celebrate with all their family and enjoy spending time with them, while trying to understand and preserve the old customs.