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ANNUAL EVENTS
Special days for every season throughout the year

New Year
Shogatsu (New Year)
Traditionally, the New Years holidays, known
as Shogatsu, were a time for thanking the
gods (kami) who oversee the harvests and for
welcoming the ancestors spirits who protect
families. The custom of displaying kadomatsu
(decorations of pine branches and bamboo
put up at both sides of the entrances to
houses) and shime-kazari (straw rope
decorations) was to welcome these gods and
spirits. At the beginning of the year, people
expressed appreciation to the gods and the
ancestral spirits and prayed for a rich harvest
in the new year. Because of this, the New
Years holidays are for the Japanese people
the most important of all annual celebrations.
Many people at this time draw up plans and
make new resolutions for the coming year.
Nengajo (New Year's Cards)
During the New Years holidays, people
receive greeting cards, known as nengajo,
from relatives, friends, and acquaintances.
The number of nengajo sent for New Year's
Day in 2014 was approximately 1.829 billion.
Hatsumode (First Visits of the Year to
Shrines and Temples)
During these holidays, families and friends go
together to pay the first visits of the year,
known as hatsumode, to Shinto shrines and

Hatsumode
During the New Years holidays, people
go to shrines and temples to pray for
health and prosperity in the year ahead.
Photos courtesy of AFLO

ANNUAL EVENTS

Kadomatsu
Kadomatsu are New Year's decorations fashioned
from pine and bamboo. They are placed on both
sides of the entrances to peoples homes.

Buddhist temples. In the case of Shinto

shrines, these visits were traditionally made to
shrines which are said to be in a favorable
direction from the home of the visitor. The
purpose of the visits was to pray for a rich
harvest and the safety of the family and home
during the year ahead.
Meiji Jingu Shrine in Tokyo sees the
largest number of hatsumode visitors (3.16
million in 2014), followed by Kawasaki Daishi
Temple (3.02 million in 2014) and Naritasan
Shinshoji Temple in Chiba Prefecture (3
million in 2014).

A hina (doll) display shelf

The dolls, accessories, and
peach blossoms are displayed
in early March.

Otoshidama (Presents of Money for

Children)
During the New Years holidays, children
receive special presents of spending money,
known as otoshidama, from parents and
relatives. Thus, children have a special
reason to look forward to the opening of the
new year, and in recent years it is not unusual
for junior high and high school students to
receive 5,000 or 10,000 yen per gift. When all
the otoshidama are put together, they may
amount to several tens of thousands of yen.

Otoshidama
New Years gifts of money
for children.

New Years Games

In earlier times, almost all children took part in
such
special
outdoor
New
Year
entertainments as kite-flying and spinning
tops (especially for boys) and a badmintonlike game for girls called hanetsuki. Indoor
entertainments included uta karuta card
games, which tested the participants
quickness at recognizing poems from the
Hyakunin isshu (Hundred Poems by One
Hundred Poets), and a board game called
sugoroku, similar to backgammon. However,
for present-day children, who are surrounded
by so many different means of entertainment,
these New Year's games have lost their
former popularity.

Spring

Setsubun
SetsubunFortune in
and devils out!

ANNUAL EVENTS

Setsubun
According to the lunar calendar in use before
1873, in which the numbering of the months
was about one and a half months behind that
of the modern solar calendar, the coming of
spring (Risshun or Setsubun) was designated
as the third or fourth day of the second month.
Some of the Setsubun observances that were
held on this day still take place on February 3
or 4, even though this coincides with the
coldest period of winter. For example, there is
the ritual of opening the doors and windows of
houses and expelling bad luck and evil
demons by tossing beans into the air while
saying fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto(fortune in
and demons out). It is also said that one will

keep healthy by eating on this day the

number of beans equivalent to ones age.
This was originally an observance that took
place in the imperial court on the last day of
the lunar year to symbolize the sweeping
away of bad spirits and winter cold and gloom,
as well as to welcome the cheer of a new and
bright spring.
Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival)
Hina Matsuri is celebrated on March 3, when
spring is not far off. This is an annual event to
pray for the happiness and healthy growth of
young girls. On this day, families display hina
ningyo, dolls dressed in traditional court
apparel, along with peach blossoms and
offerings of such delicacies as white sak,
diamond-shaped rice cakes (hishimochi), and
dry rice-cake pellets (arare).
The Hina Matsuri observance derives
from ancient beliefs about ritual purification.
At one time it was believed that human
misdeeds and defilements could be washed
away and purified in rites held beside streams.
Later, dolls made of paper were used in these
rituals, and after the Edo period (16001868)
these dolls began to be designed in the form
of the hina ningyo seen today.
Haru no Higan (Vernal Equinox Day)
The traditional observance of Haru no Higan,
or spring higan, coincides with the period of
seven days centering on the spring equinox,
around March 21. At this time, people visit
family graves, pay their respects to the souls
of their ancestors, and ask Buddhist priests to
perform sutra-readings in their honor. A
similar observance, known as Aki no Higan,
or autumn higan, is held during the oneweek period centering on the autumnal
equinox, around September 23.

Hanami
A cheerful party beneath
cherry trees in full bloom.

Hanami (Cherry-Blossom Viewing)

At the end of March and the beginning of April,
when in most of Japan the cherry blossoms
which symbolize the country begin to bloom,
the Japanese people like to make merry at
picnics known as hanami (flower- viewing),
held under blossoming cherrytrees. The
custom of arranging picnics to eat and drink
under the spring blossoms has been
widespread among the common people since
the Edo period.
Golden Week
April can be a rather stressful time for
students, who are beginning a new school
year, and for new company employees who
typically begin work careers during this month,
which corresponds with the beginning of
Japans fiscal year. However, from the end of
April, many people take from a week to ten
days off work, since this period includes a
cluster of national holidays, namely Showa
Day on April 29, Constitution Day on May 3,
Greenery Day on May 4, and Childrens Day
on May 5. This period is commonly called
Golden Week. The weather is warm and
suitable
for
excursions,
and
tourist
destinations throughout Japan bustle with
crowds of visitors. Golden Week is notorious
for traffic jams and crowded trains and
airports.
Childrens Day
Childrens Day, which falls on May 5 during
Golden Week, was traditionally called Tango
no Sekku (known as Boys Day in English),
and was a day set aside to wish for the
healthy growth and future career success of
young boys. Traditional decorations were
carp-shaped cloth streamers attached to
poles (koinobori) and dolls in the guise of
warriors (mushaningyo), while special food
delicacies were rice dumplings wrapped in

Carp streamers
Carp-shaped
windsocks made from
cloth are flown to mark
Childrens Day.

ANNUAL EVENTS

bamboo leaves (chimaki) and rice cakes

wrapped in oak leaves (kashiwamochi).
In ancient times, the fifth month of the
year was considered a bad month, and the
fifth day of that month was thought to be
particularly inauspicious. Tango no Sekku first
developed as an annual observance of ritual
purification to eliminate defilement.
On this day there is the custom of bathing
in hot water containing iris leaves. It was
traditionally thought that such leaves not only
had medicinal properties but could banish evil.

Summer

Tanabata
The first annual observance of summer is
known as Tanabata, falling on July 7. It is a
day that commemorates a romantic story, first
handed down to Japans imperial court via
China and Korea and then becoming popular
among the common people, about the oncea-year meeting on a bridge across the Milky
Way of the cowherd star and the weaving
princess star. It was believed that wishes
made on this day would be fulfilled; in
gardens and other places people set up leafbearing bamboo stalks to whose branches
they attached strips of paper on which their
wishes were written.

Tanabata
On July 7, people write their
wishes on narrow strips of
paper and decorate them with
bamboo grass for the
Tanabata festival.

Fireworks display

Today, Tanabata festivals are celebrated

at numerous places around Japan. Some of
the best-known take place at the Kitano
Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto, the Konpira
Shrine in Kagawa Prefecture, and in the cities
of Hiratsuka in Kanagawa Prefecture and
Takaoka in Toyama Prefecture. Also well
known is the Sendai Tanabata festival in
Miyagi Prefecture, which takes place a month
later on August 7, closer to the time of year
when Tanabata was earlier observed by the
lunar calendar.
Fireworks Displays
Throughout Japan, night skies in summer are
lit by colorful fireworks as various localities
put on fireworks displays (hanabi taikai).
Japans fireworks technology is said to be the
worlds best and has been handed down from
generation to generation since the Edo period.
Todays fireworks displays are often
controlled by computers to enhance their
precision and spectacular visual effects. In
Tokyo, fireworks displays along the Sumida
River have been famous annual events since
the Edo period.

Bon
Bon or Obon is an annual observance to
welcome and console the souls of ones
ancestors, who are thought to visit ones
home at this time of the year. It was
traditionally observed around the middle of
the seventh month according to the lunar
calendar. At present it is observed in most
places between July 13 and 15, though in
some regions between August 13 and 15.
On July 13, welcoming fires (mukaebi) are
lit to greet the ancestors spirits. Then, on the
sixteenth, seeing-off fires (okuribi) are lit as
the ancestral souls return to the spirit world.
During Bon, many companies and stores
close for vacation and since people who work
away from their native places often return
there with their wives or husbands and
children, transportation facilities, as during
Golden Week, become very congested.

Autumn

Tsukimi
During the annual tsukimi
(moon viewing)
observance, people make
offerings of dumplings
(dango) and susuki grass
as they enjoy the full
moon.

ANNUAL EVENTS

Tsukimi (Moon Viewing)

According to the lunar calendar, the full moon
appearing around the middle of the ninth
month was called the mid-autumn moon
(chushu no meigetsu), and it became a
custom to arrange moon-viewing parties to
appreciate its particular beauty. This was
originally a custom practiced in China, which
spread to Japan in the Heian period (794
1185). Houses were decorated with eulalia
grass (susuki) and dumplings were made and
offered to the moon together with samples of
crops from the autumn harvest.

New Years Eve bells

Shichigosan
November 15 is a day for visiting Shinto
shrines with boys aged three and five and
girls aged three and seven to pray for their
safety and healthy growth. Traditionally, small
boys wear haori (Japanese half-coats) and
hakama (divided skirts) and the girls wear
kimono, but many are seen nowadays
wearing suits and dresses. On this day,
parents buy at shrines a type of candy called
chitose-ame which is supposed to convey
prayers for long life, and at home families
celebrate by eating rice boiled with red beans
(sekihan) and a sea bream prepared
complete with head and tail (okashiratsuki no
tai).

Winter

Bonenkai (Year-End Parties)

After the beginning of December, many yearend parties known as bonenkai take place in
pubs and restaurants. These are motivated
both by the idea of expressing appreciation
for peoples hard work during the year and the
notion of forgetting difficulties, and having a
good time at the years end. People of all
ages and belonging to all kinds of groups,
including students and company employees,
become busy planning these events. In most
cases, each participant pays his or her own
expenses, but there are cases where
companies sponsor bonenkai for their
employees and cover these parties costs.
Christmas
In Japan, Christmas has become popular as a
seasonal occasion and, whether or not they
are Christians, the Japanese people are fond
of displaying Christmas trees, eating
Christmas cakes, and exchanging Christmas
presents. It is an especially exciting time for
children, who await the bringing of gifts by
Santa Claus while they sleep.

ANNUAL EVENTS

New Years Eve

When Christmas has passed and the
bonenkai are over, it will soon be December
31, called in Japanese omisoka. Just before
midnight, Buddhist temples all over the
country begin to strike bells in an observance
known as joya no kane. The bells are struck
108 times, symbolizing a purification of what
are said to be 108 earthly desires (bonno).
Then a new year will begin with the
observance of Shogatsu.