5 posts tagged “new year”
When we finished ringing the temple bell, it was almost midnight. We jumped on bicycles and headed for nearby Samukawa. Bypassed by the main rail line, it has lost its importance as a town over the last 150 years, but Samukawa Shrine has retained its hold on the affections of the local population who flock to it at New Year from nearby larger towns.
It is a little past midnight and the shrine precincts are already crowded with people. Rather than join the throngs inching forward toward the main building to throw coins as a New Year offering and prayer, we go no further than the main gate where we admire the lantern decoration—this year featuring a cow for by the 12-year cycle of the Chinese Zodiac, 2009 is the year of the cow.
We buy a fortune for 100 yen. Mine is lucky, Masaya's is very lucky. Each includes detailed predictions of health, business, love and other matters for the following year. The narrow paths of the shrine grounds are lined with food stalls offering noodles, pancakes, sweet corn, beer, sweet amazake. Generators whir and under bright lights, vendors bark a welcome to the passing crowds. We buy buttered potatoes and cups of hot sake. After enjoying them on a quiet side street, we ride away through the cold night.
Halfway home, we stop on a country road and climb a flight of steps. In the middle of a silent wood stands a small shrine building. It is deserted, but on this night only, the doors have been opened and the inside is illuminated. We approach, throw our coins into the offertory box, shake the thick rope that hangs down, ringing the bells to summon the gods, clap our hands and pray for the New Year. Then we return to the bicycles and ride home to bed.
--Julian
On New Year's Eve, after the last shopping and cleaning and preparations for the holiday have been made, we can relax. For evening dinner, we make the traditional bowl of soba noodles, and join most people in watching Kohaku, a festive and high-spirited annual music show on government-sponsored NHK TV. The evening-long spectacle is designed to appeal to all age groups, and the singers old and young perform elaborately staged hits of the previous year or new versions of old favorites. This year, several sequences recalled the summer Olympics, with Japanese athletes joining skits and singing along.
In the last half hour of the year, as the Kohaku draws to an end, the bell of the small temple at the bottom of the road begins to boom. We wrap up and walk down to find a small group of neighbors taking it in turns to pull back the wooden pole suspended from the roof of the bell tower and letting the end swing and strike the side of the bell. Everyone does it once, then cycles round again to the back of the line. One by one, we climb the half-dozen steps of the tower. Put hands together and bow. Pull back the poll and let it smack against the bell, releasing a deep boom that echoes across the countryside. Put hands together and bow again. This is done 108 times—a member of the temple family is keeping track on a palm-sized counter, encouraging people to take their turns, and rewarding each ringer with a small box of cookies.
As midnight nears, people keep arriving, and gather round an oil drum with a fire inside that spits sparks high into the black night. There is a pan of warm
amazake, a sweet, thick drink made from fermented pulp left over after making sake, and it is ladled into paper cups for everyone who wants some.
(To be continued)
--Julian
For the last week, the local farmers and householders have been hoeing, clipping, and generally tidying up. As the year draws to a close, the tempo increases. And the countryside is wreathed in fragrant woodsmoke.
Furious pruning!
Glorious bonfires!
Seven more days to New Year
--Julian
The New Year holidays were special in the Kanto area. Travelers returning from other parts of Japan told of rain and snow. Here on the Pacific coast we had day upon day of blue skies. The warm sun made the end-of-the-year spring cleaning more than a matter of grinning and bearing it, even if it did show up every streak on the newly-washed windows.
In the last days of the old year, the countryside was wreathed in smoke as farmers made bonfires of straw, and households pruned bushes and trees and burned the dead leaves and clippings. December 31 was a day of calm, cleaning over and New Year preparations made.
For the first few days of the New Year, with less driving and manufacturing, the air was sparkling clear. It beckoned you to the shrines and hot springs of the nearby hills, from where you could see all the way to Enoshima Island just off the coast.
New Year's morning: always
A mailbox full of cards
From folks I didn't send one to
--Julian
