Oshogatsu

This is the Japanese New Year week, the most important night being the 31st (Omisoka), naturally. As Christmas has a status similar to Valentines day, this is the period to spend with your family, eat lots and watch TV.

They start the proceedings with Osoji; a massive clean and general tidy, so that the two most important days can be spent in a clutter-free environment. This is also in keeping with Shinto ideas of purification and renewal. Osoji is meant to appease Toshigami, the God of the New Year, who visits each house to give blessings to the family.


Hatsumode is a trip to a local Temple, such as Daishi in Kawasaki (pictured) on New Years Eve. Thousands of people are present at this occasion. At midnight, 108 bells ring, each one representing a different sin of the senses. The emphasis is on renewal.



I'm not going to go into Shinto in this entry (that's coming later) but there is a great deal of symbolism in a decoration/end of year meal called Kagamimochi. That specimen was bestowed upon us by our lovely landlord. It's sometimes called a Mirror Cake - the two balls are an image of each other, one representing the year to come, the other the past. Mirrors are often used as representations of the Kami (Shinto gods) in shrines...more on that later. Kagamimochi is sometimes also called Tooth Cake, as people would eat it, wishing they had teeth. After cracking the thing open and going at it with the very latest in big knife technology, I wasn't surprised.


It's basically a massive pounded rice cake. I was expecting an obstinate gloopy substance, not tightly a packed ball of wax. Our scepticism mounted at the same rate as the perspiration and furrows on my brow...then we toasted it.


They puffed up a treat, suddenly becoming much easier to eat, but not really taking on anything approaching a flavour. For the past week I've been surreptitiously finding out from my students how to eat the damn thing. People sometimes stew it with green leaves, fish paste and a manner of other ingredients depending on which part of Japan you're from, but grilling seems to be the most popular option. Once browned you can eat what you like with them; maybe anko (soy bean jam) but the suggestion by Sakuta sensei was to wrap them in nori with a bit of cheese.



Yum, yum and thrice yum. If anybody fancies getting a bit closer to Japan at this cultural high point of the year, why not have a go at this Mochi pounding game? It's fairly self explanatory (despite being in Japanese) - click the white blob on the pot (or any other white blobs that occur), select your character (man with hammer or kappa), red for hard, blue for easy and click the button next to your chap to play. The man has to pound the rice without hitting the kappa, whilst the kappa has to mix the rice without being lamped. Hours of fun and very Japanese.