Convenience Stores And Supermarkets Promote Osaka Custom And Point Setsubun Celebrations In NEW DIRECTION (revisited)
Poster advertizing EHO-MAKI at a supermarket in Tsukuba 2010
Convenience stores and supermarkets have had a huge impact on Japan and they play a major role in the shaping of contemporary Japanese culture and lifestyles. And though in many ways it could be said that these stores are helping to bring about the END of TRADITIONAL JAPAN, it could also be said that they are unlikely repositories of certain aspects of Japanese culture , always displaying traditional sweets of the season and never missing a chance to promote and sell foods and other paraphanalia related to traditional events and festivals. The quest for new products to sell has also led to some innovative ideas which have spiced up certain traditional events. An example of this can be seen if you go to any combini ( convenience store) or supermarket (supa) in the 3 or 4 weeks leading up to February 3 , which is the day on which the SESTUBUN festival is celebrated.
Sestubun (節分) , is sometimes called the BEAN THROWING FESTIVAL in English. This is because the main feature of the event is the throwing of soy beans , as a way of excorsizing evil and bad luck. In homes with small children, the man of the house usually dons a paper DEMON MASK (available at combinis and supas) on the evening of the 3rd, and the children proceed to hurl the beans at him crying out – ONI WA SOTO ( Demon out! ). They then continue throwing beans in various directions, shouting FUKU WA UCHI- good fortune in ! Family members then go on to eat the same number of beans as their age. This ritual is called MAME MAKI (bean throwing), and it is also performed at various temples and shrines around Japan. It is usual for adults who are in their UNLUCKY AGES(especially men of 42 and women of 33) to attend these bean throwing events as a form of YAKU YOKE (purification for those of unlucky age). Famous temples and shrines often invite celebrities (sumo wrestlers, movie stars etc) to hurl the beans, and these scenes are often televised. Just watch the news on the night of the 3rd (the night of this year`s mame maki).
Nearly all convenience stores and supermarkets have for the past few weeks been displaying a wide array of demon masks and soy bean packages .
Another custom, though far less popular these days, is the the posting of a sardine head fit onto thorny leaves called hiiragi on the front door. This is done to keep evil and bad fortune away. It is believed that the foul odor of the fish and the uninviting thorns should be effective in keeping any demons OUT. Supermarkets, including the one in the basement of Tsukuba`s Seibu Department Store have been promoting sardines for the making of these protective wreaths.
Hiiragi, and especially bean throwing have been the generally accepted, standard ways of celebrating setsubun throughout Japan.
However, in recent years combinis and supas have been vigorously promoting an ADDITIONAL WAY of celebrating setsubun. Well… new to all people who have never lived in Osaka(and other parts of KANSAI).
I`m talking of course of the large sushi rolls called EHO-MAKI (恵方巻), which can be seen in promotional posters all over town. These oversized nori-maki (they look like quite a mouthfull) are to be eaten by each family member, in silence, while facing the lucky direction of this year(according to the traditional Japanese almanac). Though most people in Tsukuba had never heard of this ritual until recently, many now reserve their EHO-MAKI weeks before setsubun. More purchase them on the day of the festival.
Eho-maki advertizement at a combini in Tsukuba 2010
Eating Eho maki while facing the lucky direction ( this year- 2010, it is West by South-West), is in fact a custom, though not very old, which originated(along with so many other great business ideas) in Osaka. Osakan friends living in Tsukuba tell me that they had faithfully eaten their setsubun sushi-rolls every year of their lives, and had imagined that ALL Japanese did the same. Some Tsukubans of Osakan birth used to have Eho Maki sent to them each year by their mothers, before they became available nation-wide.
Nobody Ive spoken to could actually explain the significance of the sushi-rolls, but my feeling is that by facing the lucky direction, and slowly and silently taking the EHO -MAKI in, the good energies of this years lucky direction are absorbed by the antennae-like roll. Of course, these sushi- rolls are also chock-full of nutritious fillings (these vary according to price), including egg, seafood etc., to help keep the family healthy through the last weeks (or months!) of cold weather.
Of course, the most important point for families is that the EHO MAKI are fun and DELICIOUS!
Let me tell you a little more about setsubun. This word (節分) in fact means SEASONAL TURNING POINT which then means that traditionally there were four setsubuns in Japan, one for the beginning of each season. Nowadays however, only the day marking the coming of spring is acknowledged by the general public with special rituals. Though it is still quite cold,the first day of spring (rishun) is on February 4th according to the traditional calendar. Before the Japanese converted their calendar to the one used by Europeans, a day began at sunset on the previous evening. That is why setsubun is celebrated on the evening of the 3rd. This was considered to be the start of the next day- RISHUN.
The ancient Chinese believed that these seasonal turning points were times when the world and its inhabitants were susceptible to attacks by evil forces. For protection they would carry out a ceremony which the Japanese call TSUINA( 追儺 ), in which ritual bows and arrows were used to excorsize demons and bad fortune.
This ceremony was introduced to Japan as a way of trying to stop an epidemic during the reign of Emperor Mommu (697-707), and during the Heian Period(794-1192), it was carried out anually in the Court, with bow and arrow, on the Traditional New Years Eve.
During the Muromachi Period(1392-1573), the use of bow and arrow gave way to the throwing of beans (though some temples, especially in Kyoto, use the old excorsizing techniques), and the custom began to filter down to the masses. Bean throwing on the eve of RISHUN became a standard part of Japanese life in the Edo Period (1600-1868), and remains so to this day.
The use of beans is probably related to the DEMON EXTERMINATING CEREMONY (鬼退治の際, oni taiji no sai) held at Kurama Yama , Kyoto. According to a legend, the God Bishamon recommended throwing beans into the eyes, as an effective way of combating demons. Demon Eyes can be written with the characters 魔目(which is read - ma me, a homophone for beans) and this sounds the same as 魔滅、which means DEMISE OF THE DEMON.
Also as anyone with an interest in traditional Indian food might know, beans are believed to have special life force powers.
Another interesting point is that the reason you eat the same number of beans as your age (and one for good luck) is that before the Japanese calendar changed to the Gregorian, February was the Month of New Years (usually) and thus all Japanese considered themselves one year older (did you know that the money given to children on New Years called TOSHI DAMA, is not New Years money(toshi can mean year) , but AGE MONEY (toshi can also mean age). Thus people celebrated their BIRTHDAY by eating their ages in beans.
For seniors who dont want to or cant eat dozens of beans, it is customary to put their age worth into a tea cup, pour tea over it and drink the tea.
Eating these beans is also considered to be protection against illness and bad luck.
If you would like to celebrate setsubun this year, the convenience store or supermarket will provide you with everything you need. Bean throwing should begin after the sun goes down. A parent puts the demon mask on and goes to the front door. The demon should stand outside and be pelted by the kids who cry ONI WA SOTO.Then throw beans inside the house shouting FUKU WA UCHI !. I once brought a mask and beans with me to New York and did mame maki with my nieces and nephew. It went over very well. If youve got kids, Id say- give it a try!
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Kit Kats and other Lucky SOUNDING Charms for Japan`s Entrance Exam Season
This year’s JUKENSEI (受験生), the students taking the junior high, high school, or university entrance examinations, and even more so, their mothers, are on edge these days, as we head into the heart of Japan’s gruelling (and make or break) January through March testing period, with more than a few of Tsukuba’s famous KYOIKU MAMA (education minded moms) appearing to be on the verge of nervous breakdowns.
In Japan, mothers support their test-taking kids in various ways. They drop them off and pick them up at JUKU (private after-school cram schools), make sure the whole family gets the appropriate flu shots and other medical prophylactics so that test takers stay healthy, take care of ALL the housework so that their kids can remain chore-free ( so as to be able to dedicate all available time to studying), cook nutritious, brain power promoting food, and of course, always make sure that their sons or daughters keep on the books. It is also usual for Tsukuba mothers to stay home with their jukensei offspring while their husbands and non-jukensei kids go off somewhere to enjoy the New Year’s Holiday.
Popular lucky items to help pass exams More interesting for me than these prosaic forms of supporting the young test takers are the non-rational forms of assistance which are often provided. One very common custom is visiting and praying at a TENMANGU or TENJIN SHRINE, the type of shrine believed to be most effective for helping pass examinations. A votive wish tablet (O-FUDA) is usually purchased at the shrine office and taken back home, where it is placed with the hope of bringing good test results.
Yushima Tenjin Shrine in Tokyo popular place for Tsukuban JUKENSEI, or their parents, to prayIt is also popular to prepare certain LUCKY FOODS or buy LUCKY ITEMS whose powers derive from their names, often in modified form, which are connected with, or sound similar to certain Japanese words, such as KATSU ( 勝 to win), UKARU ( 受かる to pass), or even the English word PASS. These lucky items (in general) are called ENGIMONO in Japanese, with the items connected distinctly with examinations being known as GOKAKU KIGAN SHOHIN (合格祈願商品). The way certain objects can come to be considered auspicious （or unlucky) because the pronunciation of their name resembles a POSITIVE ( or negative) WORD is called GORO AWASE (語呂合わせ).
Let me give you a few examples of some things which are thought to be lucky because of significant sound-word associations.
Most traditionally, on the day of an examination (or a sporting match), Katsu-Don (a cutlet on rice) or Ton Katsu (a pork cutlet) is eaten. This is because KATSU, which means a cutlet, is a homophone for the word KATSU, which means VICTORY. Thus, dishes containing KATSU (cutlets) are considered ENGIMONO, which help bring about success.
Various companies have taken advantage of Japan’s soft spot for GORO AWASE, and with every test taking season new products are introduced to the ENGIMONO market, some of which really STRETCH IT in their efforts to have their items name resemble a positive word (or words).
In recent years, one of the most popular of these products has been Nestle’s Kit Kat bar, a chocolate covered wafer, which can be bought at any convenience store or supermarket. The reason this item is considered to have luck-giving power is a modified form of the product’s name, which is KITTO KATSU （きっと勝) meaning “surely you will win”! Many also believe that eating chocolate on the morning of an exam stimulates the brain and because of these two factors, Kit Kat bars have been sold briskly during recent exam seasons. Many of Tsukuba’s juku teachers actually hand them out to their students at this time of year.
Some companies have special exam season packages for their usual products, which promote a LUCKY variant of the item’s brand name. Probably the most famous of these is the corn puff snack KA-RU (curl), which when exams come around, are sold in special bags with UKA-RU (PASS) printed on them.
KA-RU written as UKA-RU (pass) with a Sugawara no Michizane character for the exam season One of last year’s popular good luck products was the OCTOPUS, in various forms. This is because the Japanese pronounce this word as OKU (put it there) TO (and you) Pass (pass!)- DISPLAY IT AND YOU PASS!
Koala figures were also IN last year, as they supposedly never OCHIRU (fall or fail). Some company has actually been marketing lucky koala poop. The reasoning behind this is that the cuddly marsupial’s stool (unko) has no smell, which makes it good UN, or UN GA II which means GOOD LUCK (as well as good poop!).
Talking about OCHIRU (to fall or fail), I remember an interesting story way back, just after the Great Kansai Earthquake. The driver of a bus which had been perilously hanging over the edge of a shattered elevated highway, but which miraculously didn’t fall, was sought out by JUKENSEI from all around Japan who wanted to shake his hand and receive his blessing. This was because he was OCHISO KEDO OCHINAKATTA (he looked like he was gonna fall/fail, but he DIDN’T).
I could go on and on with amusing examples of GORO AWASE good luck charms, but I would like to get back to the topic of the TENJIN/TENMANGU SHRINES which so many students, and even more parents, visit for a little supernatural support in the struggle to pass exams.
Tenmangu shrines are where the deified spirit of the great Heian Period scholar and poet Sugawara No Michizane are enshrined as the God of Scholarship and Learning (as well as natural disasters) TENJIN. Michizane’s story can teach us a lot about traditional Japanese religious thought. A highly respected member of the Heian court, whose poetic skills helped him rise up quickly in the ranks, he became the subject of certain false rumors which led to his banishment from the capital and his being exiled to the far off military outpost of DAZAIFU on the island of Kyushu. Michizane, heartbroken by his separation from the cultural life of the court and his beloved capital, soon died (in 903).
Portrait of Michizane at Mitsukaido's Tenmangu Shrine After his death, certain natural disasters took place in Japan, including floods and fires caused by lightning. The court decided that this must be the vengeful spirit of the wronged Michizane, and the once persona-non-grata was enshrined as the God TENSHIN, who if respected and properly pacified would (hopefully) refrain from taking further revenge on the Japanese populace.
Since Michizane had been such a respected poet, scholar, and calligrapher, over time TENJIN evolved into the God of Learning to whom supplications were made by those seeking academic success.
There are at present more than 10,000 TENMANGU SHRINES dedicated to TENJIN throughout Japan. The most famous of these are in Dazaifu, Kyushu, where Michizane was exiled and died, Kyoto (the Kitano Tenjin shrine) where he was born, and Egara Tenjin in Kamakura.
Examination success amulets from Dazaifu Tenmangu Though some parents of Tsukuban JUKENSEI might actually visit one of these far off shrines to pray for their children’s success, Tokyo’s Yushima Tenjin is the shrine most commonly visited by residents of our city. There is also a Tenmangu Shrine in Mitsukaido (now Joso City). Besides praying before these shrines’ main halls, worshipers usually buy an amulet (OMAMORI), or a more expensive wish tablet (OFUDA).
- Mitsukaido’s Tenmangu
Last weekend Tsukuba was flooded with JUKENSEI. If you looked at them closely you might have see some of them holding their lucky charms from a Tenmangu Shrine. But since an amulet or wish tablet acquired has to be returned the NEXT YEAR TO THE SAME SHRINE, which is a bit troublesome, the lucky food products (which are just eaten and not returned anywhere) are becoming more and more popular.
The studets will back again for a second round of exams in February. Keep an eye out for them.
O-Fuda from Dazaifu Tenmangu 10,000 Yen Print This Post
Early Plum Blossoms, So-Bai (早梅), Reassure Us That Spring Is Not Far Off
On a frosty morning in late January, we came out of the woods and were passing through a meadow in Tsukuba`s Konda Neighborhood. We were on the way back from watching a crew of workers with heavy machinery clear the trees from around a local pond. My hands and ears were numb with cold and my heart numbed by what we had been watching.
Bushwhacking through a veritable jungle of reeds which had all turned the color of straw for winter, we approached a small thicket. Suddenly I heard an excited cry - So-bai !
I looked to my left and there they were-wild plum ( ume ,梅) blossoms blooming unusually early in the year.
The word so-bai, made up of the Kanji Characters- SO 早meaning early, and BAI 梅 meaning plum, is used to express these blossoms which bloom in winter before most of the other UME, which we expect to see in March.
I have often written of how the plum blossom has been considered auspicious by the Chinese and the Japanese ( because it is resistant to cold and blossoms early in the year) and of how plum blossoms were also an important symbol for O-Shogatsu ( New Years).
This might seem odd to many, because now, the most famous places for viewing plum blossoms ( for example, the Kairaku-En Garden in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture) are in bloom in March, the month with which the Ume is now most closely associated with.
Early Plum Blossoms- Tsukuba, 2010
Depending on the region and weather conditions, however, there are plum trees which bloom in February and even January, as evidenced by the tree we found in Tsukuba.
Given the fact that the Japanese used to celebrate New Year`s usually somtime in February ( as the Chinese still do), according to the old calendar, it is only natural that these blossoms became associated with the new year and RENEWAL in general.
The So-bai certainly helped to lift my spirits. Cold and heavy hearted, plodding through the dead reeds, they helped ressure me that the meadow would, in the not too distant future, burst forth in color.
That is if the bulldozers dont get to it first.
More on Plums ( ume, 梅） in Japanese culture:
http://blog.alientimes.org/2008/03/plum-crazy/
and a comparison with Sakura ( cherry blossoms):
More early bloomong plum blossoms.- These at Tsukuba`s botanical garden on January 23rd 2010
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Destruction of Woods in Tsukuba`s Nakane Konda-dai ( 中根金田台の自然破壊が始まりました) Is Now Underway. Its NOT a pretty picture.
The pond sometime last summer
It is something I have long dreaded. The day that the men and the big machines would come and take away the forest which I have cherished ( and writtten about so often in these blog pages) over the years- the last extensive wild lowland tract in Tsukuba.
Getting up, each morning I anxiously have a look out my window, and sigh in relief when I find the unsual scene- a forest canopy which seems to extend all the way to Mt Tsukuba-still intact.
During the day, I frequently go back to the window to check for cranes or bulldozers. And though they didnt come, I knew that one day they would. When they finally did, I didnt SEE them coming.
Deep forest behind the pond
I HEARD them. It was a deep and ominous rumbling, somewhere far in the distance, accented occassionally by the long drawn out sound of cracking wood. My blood froze and heart went numb.
Deforestation begins
This just the beginning- but we can still stop the destruction
Local residents as well as like-minded citizens from around Japan ( and the world) have expressed their concern for what is going on in Nakane Kondadai. And the efforts of these good people will probably end up saving a good portion of the woods.
Still it is sad to see the fringes of these wilds already falling to the ax.
It is also ironic to begin the year, 2010, the official International Year of Biodiverstiy by destroying such a precious habitat.
For more on this topic see:
http://metropolis.co.jp/features/global-village/forest-conservation-in-tsukuba/
http://blog.alientimes.org/2008/06/fighting-to-protect-tsukubas-remaining-wilds/
http://blog.alientimes.org/2008/07/birds-of-a-feather-flock-together/
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HANABIRAMOCHI ( 花びら餅 )- a Japanese sweet for January which has roots in an ancient court ceremony
Hanabira mochi from Kyoto
Since the Tsukuba Science City lies amidst the centuries old, rustic hamlets ( MURA) of rural Ibaraki Prefecture, it is naturally a great place in which to familiarize oneself with the traditional culture and customs of this area. What makes this small city even more interesting, however, is that besides the presence of the families who have lived here for generations, there is a disproportionally large number of NEW RESIDENTS ( shin jumin) who have come from all corners of the Japanese Archipelgo, to live and work here, often in connection with the many research facilities and institutions of higher learning for which our city is now famous.
Over the years, right here in Tsukuba, I have been lucky enough to get to know Japanese from all parts of the country, including its most remote corners and hard to reach islands. Not only have these encounters enriched my knowledge of Japan`s varied folk customs, dialects and regional attitudes, but they have also made it possible for me to share in the edible BOUNTY of these various locales, either by the generous sharing out of the contents CARE PACKAGES sent by parents or grandparents, or by receiving OMIYAGE ( gifts) brought back to Tsukuba after New Year`s or O-Bon ( summertime) hometown visits.
As it is January now, and many people have just returned from their native places, it is a busy time for sampling some of Japan`s more exotic foods, as offered by friends, students and acquaintances eager to give a taste of their home-towns.
So far, the most interesting such treat Ive had this year has been something brought by my friend Makiko-San, from her native Kyoto- HANABIRAMOCHI ( literally flower petal rice cakes)- a soft, folded- over patty of pounded rice ( dyed slightly pink) filled with miso bean paste, a layer of pink hishimochi ( another type of rice cake, diamond shaped) and most distinctively, a slim stalk of burdock root ( gobo) running through and sticking out at both ends.
Hanabiramochi and a cup of hoji cha tea
Taken together with tea, these traditional sweets were sublimely tasty, and memorable for the rare combination of the chewy, sweet rice and hard, slightly bitter gobo.
What has made the encounter with hanabiramochi even more interesting interesting for me, though, has been studying about their history and symbolic significance.
The first thing that I should tell you is that these rice cakes are available fresh only in early January, as they are representative of the beginning of the new year.
Why?
Well, the roots of these curious mochi cakes, stuffed with white miso bean paste and a stick of gobo can be traced back to an ancient ritual called the HA KATEME ( 歯固め儀式) which during the Heian Period ( 794-1185),was carried out during the first days of the New Year at the old Imperial Palace in Kyoto with the aim of bestowing good health and long life on the Emperor and his family.
Ha Katame (歯固め) literally means hardening of the teeth, and the reasoning behind the ritual was that if hard food were eaten, the teeth, and thus the rest of ones constitution would be strengthened. The teeth are not only a RENEWABLE part of our bodies ( our baby teeth are replaced by our adult teeth), but the Kanji character for tooth is an element of the character for age- 齢, and thus the ancient Chinese and Japanese found a connection between teeth, life, aging and a new year.
Records reveal that in this ceremony the meat of deer and wild boar, as well as dried ayu ( sweet fish), daikon radish and gourd (all considered hard foods) were each placed separately on top of round, round rice cakes which had diamond shaped Hishimochi on top.
The dried ayu was also significant because one way of writing the name of this fish in Japanese is 年魚, which literally means the YEAR FISH ( because its lifespan is about one year in length), and thus connecting it by name with NEW YEARS.
As the generations passed, these offerings tranformed into part of the array of the usual O-Sechi dishes ( New Year`s dishes) of the Imperial court, eaten with the ZONI ( New Year`s soup) which in Kyoto, was made with white miso paste. The various toppings, it seems, eventually came to be stuffed into the rice cakes instead of being placed on top.
Eventually, probably sometime in the Edo Period ( 1600-1868) the sweet fish ( ayu) came to be replaced by a stick of GOBO ( burdock root) and two layers of mochi ( one round, and one diamond shaped) was also stuffed with white miso bean paste to represent the white miso of the New Year`s zoni ( soup). These little cakes were called HISHIHANABIRA , with the hishi meaning the diamond shaped rice cake, and hanabira ( flower petal), referring to the round type. The juxtaposition of these two shapes had great significance for traditional Japanese divination ( OMYODO), as it represented all things, or the universe.
( I surmise that the meats were dropped out of the ceremony over the years because of Buddhist sanctions against the eating of flesh, especially that of animals with four legs. Even the fish, however, were eventually replaced symbolically by the gobo root.)
The delicate pink glow of these sweets was obtained by a layer of colored ,diamond shaped hishimochi wrapped under the layer of white, round mochi, and this creates a resemblance to the plum blossom, which is the first blossom of the new year and an auspicious symbol of the season .
The court had comissioned two traditional Japanese confectioners, Kawabata Doki ( 川端道喜) and Tora-Ya, to make these hishihanabira, which were distributed as gifts by the Imperial Family to the aristocracy. Please note that in those days these rice cakes were NOT sweet, as they are today.
It was not until after the Meiji Restoration ( or should I say revolution) of 1868,that these rice cakes were made available to the townspeople of Kyoto. Not only was the mochi slightly sweetened, but their name was changed to Hanabiramochi.
Important for the history of these New Year cakes is that in the Meiji Period, the head of the Ura Senke school of Tea Ceromony got special permission to use them for the HATSU GAMA ( first tea ceremony of the year).
Because of this, anyone you know who is a practioner of the tea ceremony will be familiar with these sweets. It is interesting, that when a tea groups HATSU GAMA cannot be held until February, they have to freeze the hanabira mochi which they buy in early January.
Id like to thank Makiko-San for the special taste experience , and for showing me once again that in Japan, whatever you take a close look at turns out to be fascinating.
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