Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo is hosting an exhibition for hinamatsuri until 3/27/17. You can see over 6500 hanging ornaments of dolls and other hinamatsuri decorations.
March 3rd is Hina-matsuri (English translation “Dolls’ Festival, Girls’ Day, or Dolls’ Day.”) It is not an official holiday, but a traditional event held every year to celebrate the health of a young girl in the family and to wish a happy marriage for her in the future. In ancient times, a doll was dropped into a river on this day to symbolically dispose of a young girl’s illness or bad luck. Later, this doll became a symbol of the young girl herself, and now a female doll is displayed with a male doll (her future husband), amid servants, flowers, food, and drinks. These dolls are not toys, but beautiful and often expensive images dressed in elaborate costumes like those worn at the imperial court long ago. We often celebrate it with hishi mochi, sushiand shirozake or white wine.
Setsubun, which literally means “dividing season,” marks the day before a new season starts according to the traditional East Asian lunisolar calendar. While there is a setsubun for each season, the one we typically refer to is the Spring Setsubun. According to the Japanese calendar, Spring Setsubun in 2017 falls on February 3rd; however, on rare occasions, it can fall on February 2nd.
During Setsubun, people engage in the custom of mamemaki(please see the mamemaki post for details). People also eat an entire roll of sushi, that is called Ehōmakifor a good luck. It’s not good to slice the roll because the luck will be cut off as well.
The “tori” or rooster is one of the 12 signs of the oriental zodiac. Each November you can purchase a special rake at fairs (called 酉の市 or “Tori no Ichi”) that are held at several shrines in Japan. People believe that these special rakes gather luck for business. The rakes vary in size from just a few-inches to 10-feet long. People say that if you want to expand your business, you should buy a bigger rake every year.
Otsukimi is a traditional event or festival held in Japan on the 15th of August by the old lunar calendar, which happens to fall this year on September 15th 2016 by our modern calendar. Otsukimi means “moon viewing” in Japanese. We are supposed to view the full moon and appreciate the year’s harvest, but since it goes by the old calendar which is not perfect, it sometimes happens that you cannot actually view the full moon on this day. For example this year the full moon falls on the 17th of September, two days later. Anyway, on Otsukimi we Japanese still offer dumplings, fruits, and vegetables to the Kami (gods, or powers of nature) to show our appreciation for this year’s harvest.
Tōrō Nagashi is a part of Obon ceremony in Japan. People release floating lanterns into a river or lake to send the spirits of the dead back to where they came from. Please read my Obon post for more details.
Mountain Day is a new national holiday of Japan that starts this year for the first time! The date is the 11th of August, and though it was established in 2014 this is the first year that will take effect. A similar holiday, called Ocean Day, was established 20 years ago to encourage people to appreciate the sea. And now it’s mountains. Only fair, of course. Right?
Happy Father’s Day! Yes, we celebrate Father’s Day in Japan. We say “otōsan, arigatō (お父さん、ありがとう)” that means “thank you, dad”. So, お父さん、ありがとう to all dads!
May 5th is an official holiday in Japan called Children’s Day or Kodomo No Hi (こどもの日). Often we raise carp-figure flags (こいのぼり – Koi Nobori) on the roof of the house to wish a child (or children)’s health and strength. In a Chinese legend a carp that swam against upstream turned into a dragon, so we wish our children to be as strong as the carp.
