New Year's Custom in Japan (Part 2)

I would like to introduce some more events for a new year.

Hatsumoude （初詣）is to go to the shrine/temple for the first time of a year.

Iseyama Koutai Jinguu (Yokohama, Japan) on January 3rd

It is a custom for our family to go to the shrine near our house. I don't know the reason why my parents chose this shrine but it is quite big and many people comes. This year, I went there on new year's day and January 3rd. The picture above is the shrine on 3rd. So it was not too crowded. On new year's day, there are so many people that we can't move quickly.

Why did I go there twice? because... I needed a special pray for my Yakudoshi. Yakudoshi is bad/unlucky year and we have to be careful during the year. And so we try to remove bad luck which is called "Yaku" in Japanese. Yakudoshi is defined by the age (please refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakudoshi). For me, this year is "Ato-yaku" which means unlucky year after the mainly unlucky year "Hon-yaku". In the shrine, "Kan-nushi"(priest of Shintoism) gives us a special pray called "Suzu-harae/harai" or simply "Harae". It is purification by removing bad things around me. I couldn't take a picture of this ceremony, but it is not too complicated. We were just standing in front of the god and bowing. The priest (Kan-nushi) say something (Norito) and did the action of cleaning us with white tool looks like a duster or broom. After the harai, we got a Ofuda (plate of lucky charm or bad-luck removing charm) with each name.There are some stalls for selling lucky charms. It is fun to see such colorful luck charms with various shapes. Some of them are in the shape of farming tool.

My Yakuyoke fuda (Ofuda)

Stall for selling lucky charms

 Another thing we always do in the shrine is to buy "Omikuji". It is a piece of paper with some words for predicting things in a year. There are some kinds; "Dai-kichi", "Chu-kichi","Sho-kichi", "Kichi", "Sue-kichi","Kyo" (from good to bad). This year, I got a "Kichi" which means good. Even with Atoyaku, I maybe have a nice year!!

Nanakusa-gayu （七草粥）
I ate a Nanakusa-gayu, this morning because it was January 7th. "Nanakusa" means seven herbs or weed. We memorize seven kinds as "Seri, Nazuna, Gogyo, Hakobera, Hotokenoza, Suzuna, Suzushiro" Haru-no Nanakusa. It is like a poem. "Haru-no nanakusa" means seven herbs in Spring because we also have "Nanakusa" in autumn. I thought we eat this as our stomach is so tired with many big meals during a new year's holiday. However, it seems that there is another meaning. Nonetheless we do not know the original meaning exactly.

Nanakusa-gayu which I cooked by myself

Mochi-tsuki （餅つき）
Mochi (Sticky rice cake) is indispensable for our new year's holidays and so we often have this event of making Mochi before the new year. Anyway, we had Mochi-tsuki in the campus of our university on 8th January. We could try beating Mochi with a Kiné (a big wood hammer). This hammer is heavy and so we need young power for making Mochi! In this event, we ate Mochi just after we made. Mochi is very soft and delicious when it has been just made. We ate with Kinako (powder of soy bean), Anko (red bean paste) and Oroshi (ground radish with soy sauce). I like sweet taste of Kinako and Anko. Oroshi was  also good with Mochi.

Mochi-tsuki of a girl

Mochi-tsuki of a young guy! We need  power for Mochi tsuki.