Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Japanese Turn of the Year

正月 (shōgatsu): New Year


end of year:
  • 年末 (nematsu)
  • 歳末 (saimatsu)
  • 年の暮れ (toshi no kure)
  • 年の瀬 (toshi no se)
beginning of year:
  • 年始 (nenshi)
  • 年明け (toshiake)
  • 新年 (shinnen)
  • 年始め (toshi hajime)

DateEvent
12/13事始め(kotohajime)
 ~
12/25Christmas
posting 年賀状(nengajō)
by this day
12/28仕事納め
(shigoto-osame)

12/29Holiday
12/30
12/31大晦日(ōmisoka)除夜の鐘(joya no kane)
年越し蕎麦(toshikoshi soba)
01/01元旦(gantan)
元日(ganjitu)
三が日
(sanganichi)
初日の出(hatsuhinode)
初詣(hatsumōde)
arriving 年賀状(nengajō)
01/02初夢(hatsuyume)
初売り(hatsuuri)
書き初め(kakizome)
01/03
01/04仕事始め
(shigoto-hajime)
01/05
01/06
01/07人日(jinjitsu)1st~7st/15st
松の内
(matsu no uchi)
七草粥(nanakusa-gayu)
01/08
01/09
01/10
01/11鏡開き(kagami-biraki)
01/12*2015
成人の日
(seijin no hi)
01/13
01/14小正月
(shōshōgatsu)
01/15松の内
01/16


■大晦日 (ōmisoka): the last day of a year
The kanji 晦 written as 三十 (mi-so) means 30, mi-so-ka (Kanji 晦日) refers to the 30th and last day of a month in the ancient lunar calendar. The prefix Ō (大) makes it a comparative, so it's the last of the last days of the month. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōmisoka)

■元日 (ganjitsu): January 1st
■元旦 (gantan): the morning of ganjitsu
The kanji "旦" expresses the sun rising above the horizon.
Although only ganjitsu is a national holiday, governmental offices are closed from December 29th to January 3rd and many ordinary companies follow this schedule and close during this period.

■仕事納め (shigoto-osame): finishing work at the end of the year
■仕事始め (shigoto-hajime): starting work at the beginning of the year

大発会 (daihakkai) / 大納会 (dainōkai): (ceremony of) the first stock trading day of the year

□初競り (hatsuseri): the first auction of the year (at Tsukiji fish market)

□出初め式 (dezomeshiki): new year's fire brigade review



Event


■事始め (kotohajime): begining preparations for welcoming 年神 (toshigami: the gods of the incoming year) (Dec. 13)

■年賀状 (nengajō): New Year's postcard
Japanese people send these postcards so that they arrive on 1 January. The post office guarantees to deliver the greeting postcards on 1 January if they are posted within a time limit, from mid-December to near the end of the month and are marked with the word nengajō.
It is customary not to send these postcards when one has had a death in the family during the year. In this case, a family member sends a simple postcard called mochū hagaki (喪中葉書, mourning postcards) to inform friends and relatives they should not send New Year's cards, out of respect for the deceased. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year#Postcards)
Many people use special postcards with lottery numbers called お年玉付年賀はがき (otoshidama-tsuki nenga hagaki). The first prize in the next lottery is 10,000 yen.

■大掃除 (ōsōji): thorough cleaning

■煤払い (susuharai): sweeping away soot
It's an annual event in shrines and temples. As the end of the year approaches, I see the news on TV about how they sweep dust from a huge statue of Buddha with bamboos.

■忘年会 (bōnenkai): a year-end party

□年忘れ (toshi-wasure): forgetting the troubles of the past year

⇔新年会 (shinnenkai): a new-year party

■餅つき (mochitsuki): rice-cake making
Boiled sticky rice (餅米 mochigome) is put into a wooden bucket-like container usu (臼) and patted with water by one person while another person hits it with a large wooden mallet kine (杵). Mashing the rice, it forms a sticky white dumpling. This is made before New Year's Day and eaten during the beginning of January. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year#Mochi)
Generally, December 29th at the end of the year is called kunchi-mochi (九日餅 mochi on the 9th) because of the sound 'ku-wo-tsuku' (literally, to pound nine, meaning to pound agony) and there is a custom of avoiding pounding and purchasing mochi only on this day among the several days at the end of the year and, on the other hand, in some areas, the 29th is welcomed reading 29 as fuku (happiness) taking another way of reading the numbers 2 and 9.

■除夜の鐘 (joya no kane): bell ringing out the old year (Dec. 31)
At midnight on December 31, Buddhist temples all over Japan ring their bells a total of 108 times (除夜の鐘 joyanokane) to symbolize the 108 human sins in Buddhist belief, and to get rid of the 108 worldly desires regarding sense and feeling in every Japanese citizen. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year#Bell_ringing)
除夜 means the night of ōmisoka.

□煩悩 (bonnō): worldly desires

Breakdown of Bonnō
6 * 3 * 2 * 3 = 108
eyes 好(kō)
feel good
浄(jō)
pure
previous life
ears
tongue 悪(aku)
feel bad
current life
nose 染(sen)
dirty
body 平(hei)
feel indifferent
future life
mind


■年越し蕎麦 (toshikoshi-soba): buckwheat noodles eaten on New Year's Eve
Toshikoshi soba (年越し蕎麦), year-crossing noodle, is Japanese traditional noodle bowl dish eaten on New Year's Eve. This custom lets go of hardship of the year because soba noodles are easily cut while eating. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshikoshi_soba)
Around 11:00 pm on Ōmisoka at home, people often gather for one last time in the old year to have a bowl of toshikoshi-soba (年越しそば) or toshikoshi-udon (年越しうどん) together—a tradition based on people's association of eating the long noodles with "crossing over from one year to the next," which is the meaning of toshi-koshi. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōmisoka

~ Happy New Year ~

■初日の出 (hatsuhinode): the first sunrise of the year
Hatsu hinode refers to the appearance of the celestial object on January 1 (ganjitsu) (when the sun rises from the horizon or sea horizon). In Japan it is celebrated as the first crack of dawn once a year and lots of people visit to see the hatsu hinode.
■初詣 (hatsumōde): visiting a shrine in the New Year period
Hatsumōde (初詣 hatsumōde) is the first Shinto shrine visit of the Japanese New Year. Some people visit a Buddhist temple instead. Many visit on the first, second, or third day of the year as most are off work on those days. Generally, wishes for the new year are made, new omamori (charms or amulets) are bought, and the old ones are returned to the shrine so they can be burned. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsumōde)

□おみくじ (omikuji): a written fortune
A common custom during hatsumōde is to buy a written oracle called omikuji. If your omikuji predicts bad luck you can tie it onto a tree on the shrine grounds, in the hope that its prediction will not come true. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsumōde)

■初夢 (hatsuyume): one's dream on the second night of the New Year
Hatsuyume (初夢) is the Japanese word for the first dream had in the new year. Traditionally, the contents of the dream would foretell the luck of the dreamer in the ensuing year. In Japan, the night of December 31 was often passed without sleeping, thus the hatsuyume was often the dream seen the night of January 1. This explains why January 2 (the day after the night of the "first dream") is known as Hatsuyume in the traditional Japanese calendar. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsuyume)

□一富士二鷹三茄子(ichi fuji ni taka san nasubi)
It is considered to be particularly good luck to dream of Mount Fuji, a hawk, and an eggplant. Although this superstition is well known in Japan, often memorized in the form Ichi-Fuji, Ni-Taka, San-Nasubi (一富士、二鷹、三茄子; 1. Fuji, 2. Hawk, 3. Eggplant), the continuation of the list is not as well known. The continuation is Yon-Sen, Go-Tabako, Roku-Zatō (四扇、五煙草、六座頭; 4. Fan, 5. Tobacco, 6. Blind acupressurer). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsuyume)

■書き初め (kakizome): practicing calligraphy at the beginning of the year
Kakizome (書き初め, literally "first writing") is a Japanese term for the first calligraphy written at the beginning of a year, traditionally on January 2.
In modern times, people often write out auspicious kanji rather than poems. School pupils up to senior high school are assigned kakizome as their winter holiday homework. Each year on January 5, several thousand calligraphers gather at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo's Chiyoda-ku for a kakizome event that is widely covered by media. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakizome)

■初売り (hatsuuri): the first sale of the year
Many stores open on January 2st, but quite a few stores open on 1st.

□福袋 (fukubukuro): lucky bag
Fukubukuro (福袋, "lucky bag", "mystery bag") is a Japanese New Year custom in which merchants make grab bags filled with unknown random contents and sell them for a substantial discount, usually 50% or more off the list price of the items contained within. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukubukuro)

■お年玉 (otoshidama): New Year's gift money
On New Year's Day, Japanese people have a custom of giving money to children. This is known as otoshidama. It is handed out in small decorated envelopes called 'pochibukuro,' similar to Shūgi-bukuro or Chinese red envelopes and to the Scottish handsel. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year#Otoshidama)

■姫初め (hime-hajime): the first having sex in the new year
This meaning differs from the original meaning, but it has become common.

■七草粥 (nanakusa-gayu): seven-herb rice porridge (Jan. 7)
The Festival of Seven Herbs or Nanakusa no sekku (Japanese: 七草の節句) is the long-standing Japanese custom of eating seven-herb rice porridge (nanakusa-gayu) on January 7 (Jinjitsu).
The seventh of the first month has been an important Japanese festival since ancient times. The custom of eating nanakusa-gayu on this day, to bring longevity and health, developed in Japan from a similar ancient Chinese custom, intended to ward off evil. Since there is little green at that time of the year, the young green herbs bring color to the table and eating them suits the spirit of the New Year.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanakusa-no-sekku)
To let the overworked stomach rest, seven-herb rice soup (七草粥 nanakusa-gayu) is prepared on the seventh day of January, a day known as jinjitsu (人日). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year#Traditional_food)

■鏡開き (kagami-biraki): the custom of cutting and eating Kagami mochi (Jan. 11)
Kagami Biraki (鏡開き) is a Japanese traditional ceremony which literally translates to "Opening the Mirror" (from an abstinence) or, also, "Breaking of the Mochi." It traditionally falls on January 11 (odd numbers are associated with being good luck in Japan) It refers to the opening of a Kagami mochi, or to the opening of a cask of Sake at a party or ceremony. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagami_biraki)

■成人の日 (seijin no hi): Coming-of-Age Day (2nd Monday of Jan.)
Coming of Age Day (成人の日 Seijin no Hi) is a Japanese holiday held annually on the second Monday of January. It is held in order to congratulate and encourage all those who have reached the age of majority (20 years old (二十歳 hatachi)) over the past year, and to help them realize that they have become adults. Festivities include coming of age ceremonies (成人式 seijin-shiki) held at local and prefectural offices, as well as after-parties amongst family and friends. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_of_Age_Day)

小正月(1/15, 14~16)




Decoration: 正月飾り (shōgatsu-kazari)


Putting up decorations on Dec. 29th and 31st is believed to bring bad luck.
That's because the number 29 (nijū-ku) could lead to 二重苦 (nijū-ku: double pain), and also because displaying them on the 31st is called 一夜飾り (ichiya-kazari: one-night display) or 一日飾り (ichinichi-kazari: one-day display), which is considered rude to the incoming gods.

■門松 (kadomatsu): pine decoration
A kadomatsu (門松, literally "gate pine") is a traditional Japanese decoration of the New Year placed in pairs in front of homes to welcome ancestral spirits or kami of the harvest. They are placed after Christmas until January 7 (or January 15 during the Edo period) and are considered temporary housing (shintai) for kami. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadomatsu)

□松の内 (matsu no uchi): the display period of kadomatsu from January 1st
It is originally through January 15th, but currently through January 7th for some people.

■しめ縄 (shimenawa)/ しめ飾り (shimekazari): sacred straw festoon
Shimenawa (標縄・注連縄・七五三縄, literally "enclosing rope") are lengths of laid rice straw rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion. They can vary in diameter from a few centimetres to several metres, and are often seen festooned with shide. A space bound by shimenawa often indicates a sacred or pure space, such as that of a Shinto shrine. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimenawa)
Shimekazari is an ornament decorated on an entrance.

■鏡餅 (kagami mochi):
Kagami mochi (鏡餅), literally mirror rice cake, is a traditional Japanese New Year decoration. It usually consists of two round mochi (rice cakes), the smaller placed atop the larger, and a daidai (a Japanese bitter orange) with an attached leaf on top. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagami_mochi)

■破魔矢 (hamaya): ritual arrow to drive away devils
Hamaya is an arrow given as a lucky charm of the New Year by a temple and/or a Shinto shrine.
There is also a custom in which relatives and acquaintances present Hamaya and Hamayumi to a newborn baby at the baby's first annual celebration.



Playing

It was also customary to play many New Year's games. These include hanetsuki, takoage (kite flying), koma (top), sugoroku, fukuwarai (whereby a blindfolded person places paper parts of a face, such as eyes, eyebrows, a nose and a mouth, on a paper face), and karuta. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year#Games)

■凧揚げ (takoage): kite flying
There are many theories concerning the origin, and one of them suggests that a family blessed with a male child used to fly a kite in New Year in the Edo period.

■羽根つき (hanetsuki): battledore and shuttlecock
Hanetsuki (羽根突き, 羽子突き) is a Japanese traditional game, similar to badminton without a net, played with a rectangular wooden paddle called a hagoita and a brightly coloured shuttlecock. Often played by girls at the New Year, the game can be played in two fashions: by one person attempting to keep the shuttlecock aloft as long as possible, or by two people batting it back and forth. Girls who fail to hit the shuttlecock get marked on the face with India Ink. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanetsuki)

■こま回し (komamawashi): top spinning

■かるた (karuta): card game
Karuta (かるた karuta, from Portuguese carta ["card"]) is a Japanese card game.
Anyone who can read hiragana can play "iroha-garuta" (いろはがるた). In this type, a typical torifuda features a drawing with a kana at one corner of the card. Its corresponding yomifuda features a proverb connected to the picture with the first syllable being the kana displayed on the torifuda. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karuta)
Edo Iroha Karuta (japan import)
Edo Iroha Karuta (japan import)
posted with amazlet at 14.12.29
Oishi Tengudo
Best Sellers Rank: 1,615,161

■すごろく (sugoroku): board game
Sugoroku (双六) refers to two different forms of a Japanese board game, one similar to western backgammon, called ban-sugoroku, and the other similar to western Snakes and ladders. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugoroku)

■福笑い (fukurawai): face-making game
Fukuwarai (福笑い), or in English, "Lucky Laugh", is a Japanese game played around New Year's ("Oshogatsu"). The game is usually played by children, but adults may sometimes play also. The game is similar to that of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, whereby the players pin different parts of the face (such as the eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth) onto a blank face and laugh at the humorous results. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukuwarai)



Food


■年越し蕎麦 (toshikoshi-soba): buckwheat noodles eaten on New Year's Eve
Toshikoshi soba (年越し蕎麦), year-crossing noodle, is Japanese traditional noodle bowl dish eaten on New Year's Eve. This custom lets go of hardship of the year because soba noodles are easily cut while eating. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshikoshi_soba)
Around 11:00 pm on Ōmisoka at home, people often gather for one last time in the old year to have a bowl of toshikoshi-soba (年越しそば) or toshikoshi-udon (年越しうどん) together—a tradition based on people's association of eating the long noodles with "crossing over from one year to the next," which is the meaning of toshi-koshi. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōmisoka)

The campaign to make 年明けうどん (toshiake udon: new year's udon) take root in Japan has been carried out recently.

■お節 (osechi): food served during the New Year's Holidays
Osechi is Japanese food made to celebrate the coming of the New Year, called Shogatsu. It is one of the most important annual events in Japan. Osechi food is packed in colorful lacquer boxes called jubako. Each dish and ingredient in osechi has a meaning, such as good health, fertility, good harvest, happiness, long life, and so on. (http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osechi)
This consists of boiled seaweed (昆布 konbu), fish cakes (蒲鉾 kamaboko), mashed sweet potato with chestnut (栗きんとん kurikinton), simmered burdock root (金平牛蒡 kinpira gobō), and sweetened black soybeans (黒豆 kuromame). Many of these dishes are sweet, sour, or dried, so they can keep without refrigeration—the culinary traditions date to a time before households had refrigerators, when most stores closed for the holidays. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year#Traditional_food

■お屠蘇 (otoso): spiced sake
Toso is drunk to flush away the previous year's maladies and to aspire to lead a long life. For generations it has been said that "if one person drinks this his family will not fall ill; if the whole family does no-one in the village will fall ill", and has been a staple part of New Year's osechi cuisine in Japan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toso)

■雑煮 (zōni): soup containing mochi rice cakes
Zōni (雑煮), often with the honorific "o-" as o-zōni, is a Japanese soup containing mochi rice cakes. The dish is strongly associated with the Japanese New Year and its tradition of osechi ceremonial foods. Zōni is considered the most auspicious of the dishes eaten on New Year's Day. The preparation of zōni varies both by household and region. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zōni)

■ぜんざい (zenzai) / お汁粉 (oshiruko): sweet red-bean soup with mochi
Shiruko (汁粉), or oshiruko (お汁粉) with the honorific "o" (お), is a traditional Japanese dessert. It is a sweet porridge of azuki beans boiled and crushed, served in a bowl with mochi.
There is a similar dish, zenzai (善哉、ぜんざい), which is made from condensed paste with heat and is less watery than shiruko, like making jam or marmalade. In Western Japan, Zenzai refers to a type of shiruko made from a mixture of paste and crushed beans. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_bean_soup#Japan)

■甘酒 (amazake): sweet fermented rice drink
Amazake (甘酒) is a traditional sweet, low- or non-alcohol (depending on recipes) Japanese drink made from fermented rice.
Many Shinto shrines provide or sell it in the New Year. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazake)

■七草粥 (nanakusa-gayu): seven-herb rice porridge (Jan. 7)
The Festival of Seven Herbs or Nanakusa no sekku (Japanese: 七草の節句) is the long-standing Japanese custom of eating seven-herb rice porridge (nanakusa-gayu) on January 7 (Jinjitsu).
The seventh of the first month has been an important Japanese festival since ancient times. The custom of eating nanakusa-gayu on this day, to bring longevity and health, developed in Japan from a similar ancient Chinese custom, intended to ward off evil. Since there is little green at that time of the year, the young green herbs bring color to the table and eating them suits the spirit of the New Year.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanakusa-no-sekku)
To let the overworked stomach rest, seven-herb rice soup (七草粥 nanakusa-gayu) is prepared on the seventh day of January, a day known as jinjitsu (人日). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year#Traditional_food)



TV program


■日本レコード大賞 (nihon record taishō) (Dec. 30)
The Japan Record Awards (日本レコード大賞 Nihon Rekōdo Taishō) is a major music awards show that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer's Association in a manner similar to the American Grammy Awards, held annually in Japan. Until 2005, the show aired on New Year's Eve, but has since aired every December 30 on TBS Japan at 6:30 P.M JST and is hosted by many announcers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Record_Award)

■絶対に笑ってはいけない~24時 (zettai ni warattewa ikenai ~ nijuuyoji) (Dec. 31)
The "No Laughing" batsu game itself (broadcast annually during the New Year's Holiday) was first introduced in 2003. The premise of each "No Laughing"-punishment game is that the losing members of the cast have to endure many compromising, absurd, generally ridiculous situations for a long period of time (up to 24-hours, thus far) but must refrain from laughing at any of them. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_no_Gaki_no_Tsukai_ya_Arahende!!)

大晦日興行 (ōmisoka kōgyō) (Dec. 31)

The matches of MMA, boxing and pro-wrestling have been televised since in the 2000s.

■紅白歌合戦 (kōhaku uta gassen) (Dec. 31)
Kōhaku Uta Gassen (紅白歌合戦), more commonly known as simply Kōhaku, is an annual music show on New Year's Eve produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK and broadcast on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK network and by some overseas (mainly cable) broadcasters who buy the program. The show ends shortly before midnight.
Kōhaku was once the most-watched show on Japanese television of the year. One major factor was that New Year's Eve in Japan is a holiday traditionally spent at home (see Ōmisoka). Over the years, the annual event's popularity has declined from an all-time high of 81.4 (14th event) to an all-time low of 30.8/39.3 (55th event) in the Kantō region. Despite the drop, Kōhaku is consistently the top-rated musical event each year.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kōhaku_Uta_Gassen)

■ゆく年くる年 (yuku toshi kuru toshi) (Dec. 31)
Hatsumode in various areas are broadcast every year from December 31 until the early morning of January 1 in the programs such as a long-running program called 'Yukutoshi -Kurutoshi' (the old year and the new year) by Nippon Hoso Kyokai (Japan Broadcasting Corporation).

■第九 (daiku)
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with accompanying chorus, is traditionally performed throughout Japan during the New Years season. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year#Beethoven.27s_Ninth)

■全日本実業団駅伝 (zennihon jitsugyōdan ekiden) / ニューイヤー駅伝 (new year ekiden) (Jan. 1)
The New Year Ekiden, (officially the 全日本実業団対抗駅伝競走大会 (All-Japan Men's Corporate Team Ekiden Championships?)), is an annual men's ekiden (road running relay) over 100 kilometres which takes place in Japan's Gunma Prefecture on 1 January. The race is a national championship contested between Japan's corporate (business) running teams. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year_Ekiden)

■箱根駅伝 (hakone ekiden) (Jan. 2~3)
Hakone Ekiden (箱根駅伝), which is officially called Tokyo-Hakone Round-Trip College Ekiden Race (東京箱根間往復大学駅伝競走 Tōkyō Hakone kan Ōfuku Daigaku Ekiden Kyōsō), is one of the most prominent university ekiden (relay marathon) races of the year held between Tokyo and Hakone in Japan on 2 and 3 January. The race is telecast on Nippon Television. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakone_Ekiden)



Idiom

■盆と正月が一緒に来たよう (bon to shōgatsu ga issho ni kita you)

Literally: As if the Bon Festival and New Year's Day had come together
Meaning:
  1. Good things happen all at once.
  2. extremely busy

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