New Years Day

Got woken up by an excited little Masako imploring me to get up and watch the sunrise. I was lucky actually, if I slid the Shouji in my room to the side I was able to see the sunrise from my bed :)  Made my wish then went back to sleep for the rest of the morning.

New Years Day is about paying respects to family and friends and, especially in the community-style living at Masako's rural location, neighbours as well. Most of that work was done by Mako's dad in the morning and receiving Sake at each house even in the morning is quite common so by the time I woke up he was already drunk haha.

We had some traditional new years food items in the morning for breakfast Osechi (Fish cakes, potatoes and fish setting) & Ozoni (Soup with the mochi rice cakes in it). Eating a whole fish is still mentally foreign, but the taste is fine. It's marinated sort of in a vinegar which softens all the bits that would normally be hard like bones so it doesnt have any gross textures and the flavor is sweet-soy type taste.


Ozoni




Osechi



Osechi


We went from there to the local shrine which facilitates about 25 families. Not a big number of families. Beautiful little shrine. The local monk came out to say hello and after finding out where I was from proceeded to give us all a historical tour and religious explanation of the temple itself! Masako did a great job translating on the fly and it was very interesting! I don't think many people get that kind of chance to see that kind of thing so was truly appreciative.

From his guided tour I figured out some things about religion and about the shrine. Since what I learned about religion isn't really post relevant i put it into that drop down button so feel free to click to read otherwise just ignore it.


The monk explaining to us about the massive book which contains details of all the families in the area and deaths and ancestry.  Dates back hundreds of years.


Showing us all pictures of the shrine over the many years.  I think he said it was 700 years old, or maybe 250.  Or maybe that was how long his family had run it.  I cant remember now..still though..the place was old.


The big square thing is a tradition that lasted all the way from india.  Basically in india they used it as a shelter from the sun and the heat, but somehow it has kept even though it no longer has a real purpose!



The chandelier thing in the right reflects tears and flowers for the ancestors i think..i may be wrong.


He took us into his private store room to show us all the ancient scrolls which contained even more family ancestory and other stuff.



Showing us the bell.  It was made by members of the shrine possibly his family i cant remember now.  The bell is extremely high quality because it produces different harmonics depending where you hit it.  Very valuable gift and beautiful sound.



Morita family 'tombstone' ancestors where you cleanse with water and water the flowers.


Mako's dad & brother playing the Taiko drums in the temple.

The Japanese people are really good at taking ideas and putting their spin on them and producing something which is arguably better and newly unique. A classic example is electronics, Japan used to produce cheap made-in-china-esque junk but very quickly learnt the new technologies to become a world leader in technology research and advancement. Ramen was imported from China, adapted to Japanese tastes. Tea. Dumplings. Wedding styles. Religion too.

Buddhism originated from around India/Nepal. It had to go through China first and then it came to Japan. That distance traveled caused Buddhism to change significantly to the point where it even incited some religious wars i think.

Most people in Japan were solely Shinto religion when Buddhism arrived, so to abolish all those traditions of hundreds of years for a completely new one it just wasn't going to happen. So, the Japanese adapted it and made it into something of it's own. Often blurring the line between Shintoism and Buddhism, the Japanese ppl pretty much worshiped both types.

There was a period in Japan when the government became really strict about this 'weaker' form of buddhism and tried to eradicate it. Many temples actually continued to worship & put their shrines in hidden places when inspectors came around.

The local shrines eventually branched off in different directions. Pretty much each one took their own traditions and ideas of the grey line between shinto & buddhism so you can now go down the road and find some things which are done slightly differently.

After the tour of the shrine we went to Grandma's and Grandpa's house to have some tea & cakes and to wish happy new year, before coming home and making Takoyaki for dinner. We didn't have any Tako (octopus) so ended up using ham so they were more like "Hamoyaki" haha. Still good fun and delicious.


Takoyaki cooking



Mm yum!

Overall New Years was an amazing experience.  I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have been able to experience it so organically and traditionally with Masako's family.  I feel I would happily pass up 5 ordinary New Years drinking parties to gain the knowledge and the experiences I have had the  past couple of days.
2013 will be a big year.  I hope yours will all be the same.