Celebrating the traditional Japanese New Year

New Year in Japan

by Abby Waki

Shinnen akemashite omedeto gozaimasu! Literally, this means “Congratulations on the opening of the New Year!” As anywhere in the world, at the strike of 12 midnight, we great each other in Japan with even just an “Omedeto,” but the formal and more complete one is more acceptable, and usually ended with “Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegai moshiagemasu.”

Before that, we say “Yoi otoshi wo omukae kudasai,” (Literally, “Have a good New Year!”) or simply “Yoi otoshi wo!” The timing in fact is very important. At the strike of 12 on New Year’s Eve or “omisoka”, we stop saying “Yoi otoshi wo,” and say instead, “Shinnen akemashite omedeto gozaimasu.” By this we greet everybody until January 15th, the “Coming of Age Day” when all 20-year-olds become adults or shakaijin. January the 16th, logically, is no longer New Year.

On the 15th, the Post Office draws the lottery numbers on the nengajo (new year’s cards) that are sold from as early as November 1st, and the Post Office asks everyone to mail out by the 20th of December so that they can be delivered on the gantan (1st day of the year.). I have never won the grand prize for these postal lotteries, but fair enough, I get free stamps for winning ending numbers on the cards I receive.

New Year to the Japanese is like Christmas to Christians. Traditionally, all Japanese become a year older on the 1st day of the year, and I guess this is why it is considered especially important. It is a time for family reunions and renewing friendships as well.

A typical Japanese "nengajo"

The nengajo, in fact, is what it is for. I have kept, for example, friendships with people for as long as 40 years through the nengajo in winter and the shochu mimai in summer. It can be costly especially before the advent of personal computers. This year, however, I did not send a nengajo. Instead, I sent cards to ask my friends and acquaintances not to send any message of felicitation because we are presently in mourning. A cousin whom my parents took custody of when her parents separated and grew up with us like an older sister died on Christmas day, and we are naturally not in the mood to celebrate.

Otherwise, I would be sending out those cards with images I have gathered from the internet, and improvised on them with my paintbrush. I used to spend a lot of money for having over a hundred postcards printed by a professional printer, and all that I needed was to write the names and addresses with a fude or brush for calligraphy. Today, I spend money only for blank postcards and ink, and I can produce even a thousand cards in one sitting. Keeping track of friends has indeed become less tedious as we now can even keep addresses in a floppy disk, and just add a name of new friends and acquaintances in the database.

I would also be busy preparing osechi (New Year delicacies in jubako or tiered boxes) in case friends drop by. However, we are seldom home at this time, as more often than not, we are out of the country, and if we stay, we visit my in-laws first, usually on the 2nd day, and then, my uncle’s family, and then the people we are indebted to in order to deliver personally our onenga (New Year’s gift).

Through the years, I have perfected my own recipe of the famous ozoni, a kind of soup with plenty of vegetable and grilled omochi or, pounded glutinous rice. The ozoni is served only on New Year’s Day together with the osechi ryori.

Actually, the usual contents of the jubako are food with special meanings, and associated with health, happiness and a good harvest. For example, tai (sea bream, a fish) is for medetai (joyous or auspicious), konbu (kelp) for yorokobu (be glad and be happy), kuromame (black beans) for health, the mikan (orange) for gold because of its color, or kazunoko (prepared herring roe), which symbolizes procreation. This is taken after the ceremonial sipping of otoso, an herbal drink made with mirin, a sweet rice wine often used for cooking. Drinking otoso is said to drive out evil spirits, and we drink it before eating osechi with our families as a kind of toast. We also drink it with guests.

On my first New Year in Japan, my Japanese uncle took me to Narita-san in Chiba for the hatsumode which is something like a visita de iglesia that Catholics do on New Year’s Day. It was my first time to witness so many people at one place. I thought I would be crushed to death when I failed to go along with the human wave as people thronged near the image of Fudomyoo to throw their contributions into the donation box near it, and say their prayers for protection and prosperity for the whole new year. Fudomyoo was said to be a deity of good fortune.

Newcomers to Japan must have wondered about the temple bells being banged on New Year’s Eve. Temple bells are banged 108 before the clock strikes 12. The Buddhists believe that people have 108 earthly desires or passions that cause human suffering, so the bell is rung 108 times, and with each toll of the bell, one desire is dispelled.

At the temple, you buy an amulet or omamori for a year’s good luck, but you buy a hamaya (arrow-charm) at the Shinto shrine. Shintoism is the religion of the living in contrast with Buddhism, which has become associated more with death.

Another Japanese tradition is the kadomatsu that are put at the gate or doors of Japanese homes as invitation to the Toshisama, represented by westerners as the old man with a sickle. People here believe he does not leave without giving each house he visits a blessing for a happy and bountiful New Year.

Unlike western decorations like the Christmas tree or the Christmas bell, New Year decorations are burnt in Japan for good luck. I used to keep such decorations as they increase in price each year. But my husband scolded me once when he found out that I had used the same decorations from the previous year. Until then, the only one that I would not keep was the omochi that looked like a snowman with a yuzu or mikan for a head!

I was told that I had to burn them all on the nanagusa-no-hi on the 7th day of the 1st month. My mother-in-law, who was born and grew up in a village near Mt. Bandai in Fukushima Prefecture, when she was still alive, would always take this trip to some shrine, and on the way back she would gather 7 kinds of edible grasses that she used to share with me to put in some okayu (rice porridge) that we ate with some kind of ceremony. After the meal, we dip into a hot bath filled with iris leaves to complete the ritual all meant for good luck the whole year through.

May you all have a good year of the Monkey, too!

Back to top