Transcript History of Japanese New Year`s Celebration

History of Japanese New Year’s
Celebration
In Japan, as the end of the year
approaches, the customary and familiar
symbols of the New Year appear in the
streets and in homes. Many of the
symbols are based upon or linked to the
Shinto, Buddhist, or folk traditions of
Japan. The kudomatsu or "gate-pine" is
an arrangement of pine, bamboo, and
sometimes plum blossom. The
arrangement is placed on either side of
the front entrance to the house to ward
off evil dominance and invoke fertility,
growth, and the power to resist adversity
and old age. The pine represents
strength, longevity and youthful
optimism. The bamboo, which is straight
and unbending, symbolizes resilience,
uprightness, rapid growth and finial
piety; it leans with the wind, but does not
break. The apricot or plum braves the
winter season and has sweet blossoms
despite the cold and snowy weather.
The shimenawa is fresh rice-straw laced in a particular fashion
to form a rope. This ornament is placed at the entrance of the
house or over cooking stoves during the oshogatsu season. In
the Shinto tradition, the shimenawa indicates a sacred area. It
is believed that no evil can pass beyond the line of the
shimenawa.
Omisoka is the day of New Year’s Eve. Since the New Year is the biggest event in Japan, people
celebrate the Eve as well. People work so hard to prepare the New Year around one or two weeks
such as cleaning (like spring cleaning in here) and shopping. The reason people do the cleaning in
the middle of winter is to get rid of the dirty of the passing year and to welcome the New Year with a
fresh and serene mind. And on Omisoka, with preparing the New Year’s special dishes called
Osechi-ryori, people finish up all the work of the year. People eat Toshikoshi-soba at night and stay
up till midnight to listen to the 108 chimes of a nearby temple bell. Toshikoshi-soba is a bowl of hot
brown noodles in broth. The noodle is a homophone for a word that means “being close” and
therefore signifies the approach of the New Year. The 108 chimes called Joya-no-kane, rings out
the old year and rings in the New Year. It is supposed to release people from the 108 worldly
sins.Pictures: Stone statue of Jizo and inside shrine.
The 2100-lb., sixteenth-century
Japanese bronze bell is originally
from a temple in Tajima Province in
Japan. It will be struck 108 times
with a large custom-hewn log.
According to Japanese custom, this
symbolically welcomes the New
Year and curbs the 108 bonno
(mortal desires) which, according to
Buddhist belief, torment
humankind.