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ANNUAL EVENTS
Special days for every season throughout the year

New Year

Shogatsu (New Year)

Traditionally, the New Year’s 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
Year’s 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)

Kadomatsu
During the New Year’s holidays, people
Kadomatsu are New Year's decorations fashioned
receive greeting cards, known as nengajo, from pine and bamboo. They are placed on both
from relatives, friends, and acquaintances. sides of the entrances to people’s homes.
The number of nengajo sent for New Year's
Day in 2020 was approximately 1.287 billion. shrines, these visits were traditionally made to
shrines which are said to be in a “favorable
Hatsumode (First Visits of the Year to direction” from the home of the visitor. The
Shrines and Temples) purpose of the visits was to pray for a rich
During these holidays, families and friends go harvest and the safety of the family and home
together to pay the first visits of the year, during the year ahead.
known as hatsumode, to Shinto shrines and In 2018, Meiji Jingu Shrine in Tokyo sees
Buddhist temples. In the case of Shinto the largest number of hatsumode visitors
(3.16 million), followed by Kawasaki Daishi
Temple (3.02 million) and Naritasan Shinshoji
Hatsumode
During the New Year’s holidays, people
Temple in Chiba Prefecture (3 million).
go to shrines and temples to pray for
health and prosperity in the year ahead.
（Photos courtesy of AFLO）

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 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 Year’s 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.
keep healthy by eating on this day the
number of beans equivalent to one’s age.
Otoshidama
New Year’s Games This was originally an observance that took
New Year’s gifts of money
for children. In earlier times, almost all children took part in place in the imperial court on the last day of
such special outdoor New Year the lunar year to symbolize the sweeping
entertainments as kite-flying and spinning away of bad spirits and winter cold and gloom,
tops (especially for boys) and a badminton- as well as to welcome the cheer of a new and
like game for girls called hanetsuki. Indoor bright spring.
entertainments included uta karuta card
games, which tested the participants’ Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival)
quickness at recognizing poems from the Hina Matsuri is celebrated on March 3, when
Hyakunin isshu (Hundred Poems by One spring is not far off. This is an annual event to
Hundred Poets), and a board game called pray for the happiness and healthy growth of
sugoroku, similar to backgammon. However, young girls. On this day, families display hina
for present-day children, who are surrounded ningyo, dolls dressed in traditional court
by so many different means of entertainment, apparel, along with peach blossoms and
these New Year's games have lost their offerings of such delicacies as white saké,
former popularity. 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
Spring misdeeds and defilements could be washed
away and purified in rites held beside streams.
Later, dolls made of paper were used in these
Setsubun rituals, and after the Edo period (1603–1867)
According to the lunar calendar in use before these dolls began to be designed in the form
1873, in which the numbering of the months of the hina ningyo seen today.
was about one and a half months behind that
of the modern solar calendar, the coming of Haru no Higan (Vernal Equinox Day)
spring (Risshun or Setsubun) was designated The traditional observance of Haru no Higan,
as the third or fourth day of the second month. or “spring higan,” coincides with the period of
Some of the Setsubun observances that were seven days centering on the spring equinox,
Setsubun held on this day still take place on February 3 around March 21. At this time, people visit
Setsubun—“Fortune in
and devils out!” or 4, even though this coincides with the family graves, pay their respects to the souls
coldest period of winter. For example, there is of their ancestors, and ask Buddhist priests to
the ritual of opening the doors and windows of perform sutra-readings in their honor. A
houses and expelling bad luck and evil similar observance, known as Aki no Higan,
demons by tossing beans into the air while or “autumn higan,” is held during the one-
saying “fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto”(“fortune in week period centering on the autumnal
and demons out”). It is also said that one will equinox, around September 23.

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 Hanami
A cheerful party beneath
cherry trees in full bloom.

Hanami (Cherry-Blossom Viewing) bamboo leaves (chimaki) and rice cakes

At the end of March and the beginning of April, wrapped in oak leaves (kashiwamochi).
when in most of Japan the cherry blossoms In ancient times, the fifth month of the
which symbolize the country begin to bloom, year was considered a bad month, and the
the Japanese people like to make merry at fifth day of that month was thought to be
picnics known as hanami (“flower-viewing”), particularly inauspicious. Tango no Sekku first
held under blossoming cherry trees. The developed as an annual observance of ritual
custom of arranging picnics to eat and drink purification to eliminate defilement.
under the spring blossoms has been On this day there is the custom of bathing
widespread among the common people since in hot water containing iris leaves. It was
the Edo period. traditionally thought that such leaves not only
had medicinal properties but could banish evil.
Golden Week
April can be a rather stressful time for
students, who are beginning a new school
year, and for new company employees who Summer
typically begin work careers during this month,
which corresponds with the beginning of
Japan’s fiscal year. However, from the end of
April, many people take from a week to ten Tanabata
days off work, since this period includes a The first annual observance of summer is
cluster of national holidays, namely Showa known as Tanabata, falling on July 7. It is a
Day on April 29, Constitution Day on May 3, day that commemorates a romantic story, first
Greenery Day on May 4, and Children’s Day handed down to Japan’s imperial court via
on May 5. This period is commonly called China and Korea and then becoming popular
“Golden Week.” The weather is warm and among the common people, about the once-
suitable for excursions, and tourist a-year meeting on a bridge across the Milky
destinations throughout Japan bustle with Way of the “cowherd star” and the “weaving
crowds of visitors. Golden Week is notorious princess star.” It was believed that wishes
for traffic jams and crowded trains and made on this day would be fulfilled; in
airports. gardens and other places people set up leaf-
bearing bamboo stalks to whose branches
they attached strips of paper on which their
Children’s Day wishes were written.
Children’s 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

Tanabata
On July 7, people write their
wishes on narrow strips of
Carp streamers
paper and decorate them with
Carp-shaped
bamboo grass for the
windsocks made from
Tanabata festival.
cloth are flown to mark
Children’s Day.

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 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 Bon

Throughout Japan, night skies in summer are Bon or Obon is an annual observance to
lit by colorful fireworks as various localities welcome and console the souls of one’s
put on fireworks displays (hanabi taikai). ancestors, who are thought to visit one’s
Japan’s fireworks technology is said to be the home at this time of the year. It was
world’s best and has been handed down from traditionally observed around the middle of
generation to generation since the Edo period. the seventh month according to the lunar
Today’s fireworks displays are often calendar. At present it is observed in most
controlled by computers to enhance their places between July 13 and 15, though in
precision and spectacular visual effects. In some regions between August 13 and 15.
Tokyo, fireworks displays along the Sumida On July 13, welcoming fires (mukaebi) are
River have been famous annual events since lit to greet the ancestors’ spirits. Then, on the
the Edo period. 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 (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
Tsukimi
During the annual tsukimi spread to Japan in the Heian period (794–
(moon viewing) 1185). Houses were decorated with eulalia
observance, people make grass (susuki) and dumplings were made and
offerings of dumplings offered to the moon together with samples of
(dango) and susuki grass
as they enjoy the full crops from the autumn harvest.
moon.

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 New Year’s 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, seasonal occasion and, whether or not they
parents buy at shrines a type of candy called are Christians, the Japanese people are fond
chitose-ame which is supposed to convey of displaying Christmas trees, eating
prayers for long life, and at home families Christmas cakes, and exchanging Christmas
celebrate by eating rice boiled with red beans presents. It is an especially exciting time for
(sekihan) and a sea bream prepared children, who await the bringing of gifts by
complete with head and tail (okashiratsuki no Santa Claus while they sleep.
tai).

New Year’s 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.
Shichigosan festival
On November 15, families celebrate and take
their children at three, five and seven years of
age to shrines where prayers are offered for
the healthy and happy futures of the children.

Winter

Bonenkai (Year-End Parties)

After the beginning of December, many year-
end parties known as bonenkai take place in
pubs and restaurants. These are motivated
both by the idea of expressing appreciation
for people’s hard work during the year and the
notion of forgetting difficulties, and having a
good time at the year’s end. People of all
ages and belonging to all kinds of groups,
including students and company employees,
become busy planning these events.

Christmas
In Japan, Christmas has become popular as a

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