N
ew Year holds a certain magic for many Japanese children, much like Christmas does for large numbers of youngsters in the West. For Women’s Group member Miki Ohyama, 46, the period still elicits vivid childhood memories. “Celebrating New Year’s as a child was very exciting for me,” she recalls. “I would receive otoshidama [a gift of money] from my parents and grandparents, and
even from New Year’s guests. I couldn’t wait to go to Shibuya with my mom and grandmother, clutching the money in my hand, anxiously waiting to purchase toys or anything I wanted.” Otoshidama, which translates as “New Year’s treasure,” are typically given by adults in small, brightly decorated envelopes called pochibukuro to children on New Year’s Day. Reiko Oshima, another Women’s Group member, also fondly remembers receiving
In with the New by Lisa Jardine
Ahead of the New Year holidays, the two guides of the Women’s Group’s Seven Lucky Gods Walking Tour in January discuss the traditions of this auspicious period in Japan.
24 December 2009 iNTOUCH
otoshidama from relatives. “Sometimes, I would save it or I’d go out with my brothers to buy something,” she says. This most important annual festival is packed with other customs for children, including a form of badminton using wooden paddles called hanetsuki, kite flying and such popular card games as hyakunin isshu, in which players have to recognize lines from a hundred waka poems. “I had to memorize all the cards and compete against my grandparents,” Ohyama says. “I was the grand prizewinner in my family from 10 years old. Of course, winning the card game always brought extra otoshidama, so I was a motivated player!” It’s rumored that Princess Aiko, the 8-year-old daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, has been busy committing the poems to memory in preparation for the holidays. Oshima’s most predominant memory of the New Year period as a child is meeting the business associates of her parents. “Historically, employees would go to their boss’s house, where they would be offered food,” the 63-year-old says. “But nowadays, New Year’s is more about being with family.” Like so many Japanese traditions, food is central to New Year celebrations. The run-up to oshogatsu for Oshima is spent primarily in the kitchen making oseichi. “I start cooking on December 30 to prepare food for New Year’s Day,” she says. “On New Year’s Eve, we eat the traditional soba noodles I’ve cooked at home and then I continue cooking afterwards.”