Japanese New Year
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Japanese New Year (Oshōgatsu) | |
---|---|
Official name | Shōgatsu (正月) or Oshōgatsu |
Also called | New year |
Observed by | Japan |
Type | Cultural |
Significance | Celebrates the new year |
Observances | Holiday |
Begins | December 31/January 1 |
Ends | January 4 |
Date | January 1 |
Next time | 1 January 2025 |
Frequency | annual |
Related to | New Year's Day, Chinese New Year, Korean New Year, Vietnamese New Year, Mongolian New Year, Tibetan New Year |
The Japanese New Year (正月, Shōgatsu) is an annual festival that takes place in Japan. Since 1873, the official Japanese New Year has been celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar, on January 1 of each year, New Year's Day (元日, Ganjitsu). Prior to 1872, traditional events of the Japanese New Year were celebrated on the first day of the year on the modern Tenpō calendar, the last official lunisolar calendar.
History
Prior to the
Traditional food
The Japanese eat a selection of dishes during the New Year celebration called
Mochi
Another custom is to create and eat
Mochi is made into a New Year's decoration called kagami mochi, formed from two round cakes of mochi with a tangerine (daidai) placed on top. The name daidai is supposed to be auspicious since it means "several generations."
Bell ringing
At midnight on December 31, Buddhist temples all over Japan ring their bells a total of 108 times (joyanokane (除夜の鐘)) to symbolize the 108 earthly temptations in Buddhist belief, and to get rid of the 108 worldly desires regarding sense and feeling in every Japanese citizen. A major attraction is The Watched Night bell, in Tokyo. A traditional Japanese belief is that ringing bells can rid the sins of the passing year. The bell is rung 107 times on the 31st and once past midnight.
Nenga
The end of December and the beginning of January are the busiest for Japanese post offices. The Japanese have a custom of sending New Year's Day postcards (年賀状, nengajō) to their friends and relatives, similar to the Western custom of sending Christmas cards. The original purpose was to give faraway friends and relatives tidings of oneself and one's immediate family— to tell those whom one did not often meet that he/she was alive and well.
Sending these greetings is timed so they will arrive on January 1. The post office guarantees delivery on that day if the cards are marked with the word nengajō and mailed between mid-December and a few days before year's end. To deliver them on time, the post office usually hires students part-time.
It is customary to refrain from sending these postcards when there has been a death in the family during the year. In this case, a family member sends a simple mourning postcard (喪中葉書, mochū hagaki) to inform friends and relatives that they should not send New Year's cards, out of respect for the deceased.
People get their nengajō from many sources. Stationers sell preprinted cards. Most of these have the Chinese zodiac sign of the New Year as their design, conventional greetings, or both. The Chinese zodiac has a cycle of 12 years. Each year is represented by an animal. The animals are, in order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. 2020 was the year of the Rat and the most recent start of the cycle. Famous characters like Snoopy, (2006) and other cartoon characters like Mickey and Minnie Mouse, (2008) have been especially popular in their celebrated years.
Addressing is generally done by hand, and is an opportunity to demonstrate one's handwriting (see
Conventional greetings include:
- kotoshi mo yoroshiku o-negai-shimasu (今年もよろしくお願いします, ' I hope for your favor again in the coming year')
- (shinnen) akemashite o-medetō-gozaimasu ((新年)あけましておめでとうございます, 'Happiness to you on the dawn [of a New Year]')
- kinga shinnen (謹賀新年, ' Happy New Year')
- gashō (賀正, to celebrate January)
- shoshun/hatsuharu (初春, ' early spring'; in the traditional lunar calendar a year begins in early spring)
- geishun (迎春, to welcome spring)
Otoshidama
On New Year's Day, Japanese people have a custom known as
Poetry
The New Year traditions are also a part of Japanese poetry, including haiku (poems with 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven and five) and renga (linked poetry). All of the traditions above would be appropriate to include in haiku as kigo (season words). There are also haiku that celebrate many of the "first" of the New Year, such as the "first sun" (hatsuhi) or "first sunrise", "first laughter" (waraizome—starting the New Year with a smile is considered a good sign), and first dream (hatsuyume). Since the traditional New Year was later in the year than the current date, many of these mention the beginning of spring.
Along with the New Year's Day postcard, haiku might mention "first letter" (hatsudayori—meaning the first exchange of letters), "first calligraphy" (kakizome), and "first brush" (fude hajime).
Takarabune
During the first three days of the New Year the Seven Lucky Gods are said to pilot through the heavens to human ports on the Takarabune or Treasure Ship.[1] A picture of the ship forms an essential part of traditional Japanese New Year celebrations.[2]
Games
It was also customary to play many New Year's games. These include
Entertainment
There are many shows created as the end-of-year, and beginning-of-year entertainment, and some being a special edition of the regular shows. For many decades, it has been customary to watch the TV show Kōhaku Uta Gassen aired on NHK on New Year's Eve. The show features two teams, red and white, of popular music artists competing against each other.
Sport
The final of the Emperor's Cup, the national association football elimination tournament in New Year's Day. The final has taken place on New Year's Day since 1969 and is usually aired on NHK.
Beethoven's Ninth
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with accompanying chorus, is traditionally performed throughout Japan during the New Year's season. In December 2009, for example, there were 55 performances of the symphony by various major orchestras and choirs in Japan.[3]
The Ninth was introduced to Japan during World War I by German prisoners held at the Bandō prisoner-of-war camp.[4] Japanese orchestras, notably the NHK Symphony Orchestra, began performing the symphony in 1925. During World War II, the Imperial government promoted performances of the symphony, including on New Year's Eve, to encourage allegiance to Japanese nationalism.[citation needed] After the war, orchestras and choruses, undergoing economic hard times during the reconstruction of Japan, promoted performances of the piece around New Years because of the popularity of the music with the public. In the 1960s, performances of the symphony at New Years became more widespread, including participation by local choirs and orchestras, and established the tradition which continues to this day.[5]
Little New Year
There used to be also an associated festival of Little New Year (
Japanese Lunar New Year
Some regions of Japan, including Okinawa Prefecture and the Amami Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, used to celebrate Lunar New Year on the first day of the lunar calendar (around the first day of spring, in February of the Gregorian calendar).[6] Nowadays, it is very rare to celebrate lunar new year as the new year is considered January 1.
See also
- Ōmisoka, the New Year's Eve celebration in Japan
- First sunrise
- Hatsumōde, the first Shinto shrine visit of the Japanese New Year
- List of Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties
- Customs and etiquette of Japan
- Japanese festivals
- Japanese calendar
- Japanese cuisine
- New Year
- Toso, spiced medicinal sake
- Namahage
- Celebrations of Lunar New Year in other parts of Asia:
- Chinese New Year (Spring Festival)
- Korean New Year (Seollal)
- Mongolian New Year (Tsagaan Sar)
- Tibetan New Year (Losar)
- Vietnamese New Year(Tết Nguyên Đán)
- Similar Asian Lunisolar New Year celebrations that occur in April:
- Burmese New Year (Thingyan)
- Cambodian New Year (Chaul Chnam Thmey)
- Lao New Year (Pii Mai)
- Sri Lankan New Year (Aluth Avuruddu)
- Thai New Year (Songkran)
References
- OCLC 40117755.
- ^ "The Treasure Ship". Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-22.
- Japan Times, 1 December 1999, retrieved on 24 December 2010.
- ^ "How World War I made Beethoven's Ninth a Japanese New Year's tradition". The Seattle Times. 30 December 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
- Japan Times, 24 December 2010, p. 20, retrieved on 24 December 2010.
- ^ "Okinawa Prefecture The historical background of why Japan continues to use the "lunar calendar" | Reading". Toyo Keizai Online (in Japanese). 2019-02-20. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
External links
- Media related to New Year celebrations in Japan at Wikimedia Commons