A Deeper Look at O-Sechi (お節)- Japan`s Special New Year`s Dishes (which are served cold)
In a recent TsukuBlog article about O-Shogatsu ( お正月) the Japanese New Year Festival, I mentioned that I would like to write more about Osechi (御節), the variety of special, slow to spoil and symbolically significant dishes, packed into a box or set of stacked boxes, which are eaten over the 3-day New Year`s holiday period. I instead added a link to a site online ( wikipedia) which I said would provide adequate information in English. Later , I re-read the article that I had recommended and found it unsatisfying in terms of what I would have wanted to communicate about this most important ( along with O-Mochi- pounded rice cakes) of all Japanese festive foods . So now, after my own Osechi boxes have already been picked clean, I will try to give a fuller picture of this important custom which is so revealing in terms of traditional Japanese culture in general.
First let`s look at the origin of the term Osechi ( 御節), which an abbreviation of Osechiku (御節供), literally meaning Offerings for Days of Seasonal Change. Traditionally, besides New Year`s, five special seasonal change days (originally brought over from China) were celebrated in Japan. These are all linked to the fact that according to Chinese thought, ODD NUMBERS are auspicious. Thus we have:
O-shogatsu ( the New Year) on the first day of the first month ( 1/1)
Jinjitsu no Sekku ( 人日の節句) on the seventh day of the first month (1/7)
Joshi no Sekku ( 上巳の節句 ) on the third day of the third month ( 3/3)
Tango no Sekku ( 端午の節句) on the fifth day of the fifth month (5/5)
Shichiseki (七夕) on the seventh day of the seventh month (7/7)
and Choyo no Sekku (重陽の節句) on the 9th day of the ninth month
on which special foods were given as offerings to the gods. These Sechiku (offerings) were later eaten by the family or group that presented them.
Since the first day of the first month was, and still is, the most important of these seasonal change days, the term Osechi is now used ONLY to refer to the special dishes of New Year`s.
(the other seasonal change days ( sekku) are still recognized in Japan to varying degrees and have their OWN special dishes which have evolved over the generations. The fifth day of the fifth month is even a national holiday ( Childrens Day), while 3/3 is the popular Doll Festival ( Hina Matsuri) and 7/7 , the Tanabata star Festival. Interestingly, 9/9, the most important of the sekku for the ancient Chinese, besides New Years Day ( because nine is the largest ODD number), did not become truly popular in Japan because in the Japanese language the pronounciation of the number nine -KU-can also mean to suffer.)
Each of the separate dishes which make up what is now called Osechi ( and there can be dozens) are meant to symbolically represent ( through similarities of sound or shape etc) a good harvest, long healthy life, the success of ones descendants and conjure up other positive, auspicious images for the future.
Osechi dishes also usually include representative foods from the mountain and foods from the sea, as well as foods which are cooked in various styles( grilling,boiling, etc.), and different tastes ( sweet, sour, salty).
As with Japanese cooking in general, they also show deep consideration for healthfulness with a good balance of vegetables and protein.
The other characteristic of Osechi dishes, is that they must keep for at least three days and can be eaten as they are, that is, without heating up- because over the New Year`s holiday there was NO cooking, traditionally.
Of course, there are variations in, how many, and what dishes comprise the Osechi from family to family , so it goes without saying that their can be great regional variation.
GOMAME In the Kanto Area ( around Tokyo), there are 3 dishes which are considered essential ( iwai sakana sanshu- 祝い肴三種), which are- GOMAME ( boiled and dried sardines, also called TAZUKURI), KUROMAME (黒豆)- boiled black beans, and KAZU NO KO ( 数の子)- herring eggs.
Kazu no ko ( herring roe) In Kansai ( around Kyoto and Osaka), the GOMAME, while probably included somewhere in the Osechi, in not considered to be one of the essential three. Instead there is TATAKI GOBO (burdock root boiled in Soy sauce) which is considered a MUST ( the other two are the same).
Traditionally these dishes are packed into a set of stacked laquered boxes, four tiers high ( though now 2 or three tiers is the norm and these are often of cheaper material). This makes for convenient serving.
Besides this utilitarian aspect, all the dishes, with their celebratory colors, packed into these small boxes makes a feast for the eyes ( some would say that it is more beautiful than delicious!) and is also symbolic of how the millions of residents of this mountainous island nation have lived cramped together, yet in harmony.
kuromame As I mentioned before there is no ONE set way of packing or stacking these boxes but here is a typical way:
The first tier ( ICHI NO JU 一の重) would have the essentials- the KUROMAME ( representing HARD WORK, DILIGENCE and health- because MAME means beans, diligence , energy and health. Their black color bearing the power to drive away bad energies), the Kazu no ko ( herring roe) which represents many descendants ( there are made up of countless eggs) and health of parents ( NISHIN, herring, is a homophone for NISHIN 二親- two parents), and the GOMAME fish, which represent a good harvest ( sardines would traditionally be used to fertilize the rice fields).Date Maki-伊達巻, an egg and fish paste roll shaped to form a swirl were said to have bee a favorite of the great daimyo Date Masamune. Their scroll shaped also can be seen as a celebration of Japan`s traditional literature, which was written and illustrated on scrolls.
The second tier ( NI NO JU 二の重), contains grilled foods and sea foods- yellowtail (BURI- which represents promotion, as this fish has different names in its different growth stages), shrimp ( whose bent back represents achieving old age), Sea bream ( TAI, which for the Japanese conjures up images of omedeTAI- celebration, etc…
The third tier ( SAN NO JU 三の重) contained vinegared dishes
and the fourth tier ( YO NO JU 与の重, please note that the character here 与 is not the standard character for the number 4 ( 四), which could also be read SHI (death), and is thus avoid. This might also be the reason that four tiers are no longer popular) contained boiled dishes including KONBUMAKI ( kelp) which represents happiness ( because the sound of KONBU is similar to that of yoroKOBU- to be glad) and lotus root, whose holes, which can be peered through, represent the looking toward the future, etc…
As I said, the above does NOT represent the rule and will find variations of this arrangement.
(And there are many more dishes that I have not mentioned yet. I will add to this list little by little and promise a more comprehensive list by next O-Shogatsu)
In Japan today many people order their osechi ( each tier costs at least 5,000 Yen and the price can go much higher than that), but many houswives make some of the dishes themselves even if they do order a set.
Each of the dishes can also be bought separately at department stores just before O-shogatsu.
Its fun to sit around the house for three days, noshing now and then out of the osechi trays ( with plenty of SAKE, of course!), enjoying not only the taste and beautiful presentation of the food but also each little tidbit`s symbolic significance.
Some more O-Sechi favorites: Date Maki (伊達巻), on the left- made of eggs and fish meal, and Kamaboko- made of fish paste. These were part of my own O-Sechi ( 2011)
By the way, though O-Sechi can be picked at freely at any time diring the first three days of the year, at MEAL TIMES it is always taken together with O-ZONI (お雑煮), which is a soup containing O-Mochi ( pounded rice cakes). O-zoni is interesting in that though O-Shogatsu is celebrated by just about everyone in Japan in quite a similar way- there is great variation in O-Zoni, depending on the region. There is even a saying TONARI NO ZONI (隣りの雑煮) which means that even within the same region, or neighborhood, O-Zoni varies from household to household.
I have heard that this sometimes leads to spats in the first year of marriage, since a new bride might make O-Zoni which to her husband is NOT O-Zoni. Or since a brides new family might insist that she make O-Zoni THEIR WAY.
Generally speaking,, speaking in Western Japan the Mochi in the soup is usually round, while in Eastern Japan ( including Tsukuba), it is square.
A famous O-Zoni oddity is that in Kagawa Prefecture ( on the island of Shikoku) the Mochi ( which is round) contains AN (餡)- sweet adzuki beans!.
Also, in the Kinki Region ( Nara and Kyoto), the soup is made of white miso paste,
Since in Tsukuba there are residents who have come from all over Japan, I have always thought it would be fun to have a ZONI event in which the various types of New Year`s soup would be made and served at one place.
Anyway, I hope you get a chance to taste O-Sechi and O-Zoni. Though you can buy the former, the latter is pretty much only made at home. But I think if you mention that you are interested in trying some New Year`s soup with MOCHI to a Japanese friend, that just might bring you some to try!
And one more thing!
The chopsticks used for eating O-Sechi and O-Zoni are different from normal chopsticks- they are slender at BOTH ENDS! That is because while you are eating, the God of The New Year TOSHI-GAMI SAMA is eating with you! They are also often made of willow wood, which is believed o have the power to drive away evil!
Have a great year!
Junko Takasaki`s O-Zoni (2011) in the style of Iwaki (Fukushima Prefecture)-Taro,Carrots, burdock, fried tofu, mushrooms, leaks and chicken in a soy sauce based broth- topped with citron (yuzu) peel shavings
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A trip to Tohoku
All the way gloomy days during the 4th till the 6th of July were all worth it by threading the way to and around Tohoku, Japan. Tōhoku (東北), which literally means "East-North" is the northeastern region of Japan's Honshu (mainland) island. Tohoku is a host to many museums and temples and it has over a dozen of listed tourist attractions, ranging from parks to rivers and mountains.
The trip was organized by the International Students Center of the University of Tsukuba. It was a 3-days hop to the three (3) prefectures of Tohoku namely, Iwate, Miyagi and Yamagata.
The first prefecture we went to was Iwate. Take a peek at the photos I took. (1. Inside a restaurant 2. One of the temples in Chusonji compund 3. Miyazawa Kenji Museum)
Next destination was Matsushima, Miyagi prefecture. (1. Akiu Ootaki 2. Inside a museum 3. During the bay cruise)
And the last one was Yamagata prefecture. (1. Inside a museum 2. Yamagata ken souvenir shop 3. Cherry fuits)
Although the trip was a little bit tiresome by just sitting inside the bus, the tour guide's efforts were worth mentioning, trying to be awake and genki (energetic and lively) all the time while all of us are dead tired slumbering in our seats.
The full of memorable stories museums in Iwate, the wonderful splashing waters of the Ootaki in Miyagi, and the tasteful cherries in Yamagata, all made the 3 days trip worth treasuring.
For the rest of the photos in bigger resolution, you may view them in my Zooomr album.
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dimaks blogs at skamid.com
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Akemashite Omedeto! -(Happy New Year!)- a revealing look at the origin of the expression
I have said it again and again. Japanese culture and the Japanese language are endlessly interesting. The deeper you look the more surprising it gets.To illustrate this point once more, this time on the the first day of the new year, I`d like to talk about something which in most countries and most languages is quite simple- New Year`s Greetings.
Well, as you might expect, in Japan things are a bit more complex. On the last days of December, when meeting people for what is probably the last time of the year, the Japanese part with an expression which is equivalent to what is used in most languages, YOI O TOSHI O, or Have a Good New Year.
What is difficult to remember ( for foreigners) when speaking Japanese, however, is that this expression is only used UP TO midnight of December 31st. Once the clock strikes midnight, for the next seven days or so, people greet each other with AKEMASHITE OMEDETO- GOZAIMASU, or in its simplest and most casual form OMEDETO-.
Since in modern Japanese OMEDETO is an expression used in very much the same way as the English word CONGRATULATIONS, this New Year`s greeting could now be literally translated as- CONGRATULATIONS UPON THE (OCCASSION OF THE) OPENING (OF THE NEW YEAR).
Besides the fact that there are different greetings for BEFORE and AFTER the ringing in of the new year, both these greetings sound quite usual, aand at first glance simply like two slighty different ways of saying the same thing.
However, a look at the etymology of the word OMEDETO- shows OMEDETO to have quite an unusual meaning for a New Year`s greeting . It is also quite revealing about the roots of Japanese culture.
Omedeto, originally derived from the Kanji characters ome (お芽) de (出） to (度う), which together mean: May your sprouts appear, or May your sprouts sprout forth.
In other words, the opening of the new year, which before the Japanese adopted the Western Calendar took place sometime in February, was a time to pray for good crops and the coming forth of vegetation in general, in the upcoming year.
This use of this expression as a New Year`s Greeting by the aristocrats and courtiers and the members of the Imperial Family was a reflection of the fact that it was the role of the Emperor , as a high priest of the nation of sorts, to carry out rituals and pray for bountiful crops. I think it could even be said that the romantic ( sexual) daliances so famously associated with the court,(which are celebrated at New Year`s by many Japanese through the card game Hyakunin Isshu- which is based on a collection of classical poetry) were in fact also believed to be part of the ritual function to guarantee success in agriculture throughout the land.
It goes without saying that it would have been only natural for farmers in early spring ( at the old New Year) to greet each other with- may your seeds sprout!
The connection of New Year`s to agriculture is still clearly evident by the fact that even in big cities Japanese families put up New Year`s decorations consisting of rice stalks and other plant matter. These decorations, and O-Shogatsu( New Year`s) itself, are a celebration of LIFE, RENEWAL and the BOUNTY of NATURE.
So on the occassion of this New Year`s Day, Id like to wish you a big OMEDETO-
may all your seeds take root and flourish!
And if you are interested I have written about an obscure but fascinating Japanese custom- to refrai from killing mice during the first 3 days of the year, during which the little critters are called YOME GA KIMI (嫁が君):
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Akemashite Omedeto! -(Happy New Year!)- a revealing look at the origin of the expression
By Avi Landau
I have said it again and again. Japanese culture and the Japanese language are endlessly interesting. The deeper you look the more surprising it gets.To illustrate this point once more, this time on the the first day of the new year, I`d like to talk about something which in most countries and most languages is quite simple- New Year`s Greetings.
Well, as you might expect, in Japan things are a bit more complex. On the last days of December, when meeting people for what is probably the last time of the year, the Japanese part with an expression which is equivalent to what is used in most languages, YOI OTOSHI O, or Have a Good New Year.
What is difficult to remember ( for foreigners) when speaking Japanese, however, is that this expression is only used UP TO midnight of December 31st. Once the clock strikes midnight, for the next seven days or so, people greet each other with AKEMASHITE OMEDETO- GOZAIMASU, or in its simplest and most casual form OMEDETO-.
Since in modern Japanese OMEDETO is an expression used in very much the same way as the English word CONGRATULATIONS, this New Year`s greeting could now be literally translated as- CONGRATULATIONS UPON THE (OCCASSION OF THE) OPENING (OF THE NEW YEAR).
Besides the fact that there are different greetings for BEFORE and AFTER the ringing in of the new year, both these greetings sound quite usual, aand at first glance simply like two slighty different ways of saying the same thing.
However, a look at the etymology of the word OMEDETO- shows OMEDETO to have quite an unusual meaning for a New Year`s greeting . It is also quite revealing about the roots of Japanese culture.
Omedeto, originally derived from the Kanji characters ome (お芽) de (出） to (度う), which together mean: May your sprouts appear, or May your sprouts sprout forth.
In other words, the opening of the new year, which before the Japanese adopted the Western Calendar took place sometime in February, was a time to pray for good crops and the coming forth of vegetation in general, in the upcoming year.
This use of this expression as a New Year`s Greeting by the aristocrats and courtiers and the members of the Imperial Family was a reflection of the fact that it was the role of the Emperor , as a high priest of the nation of sorts, to carry out rituals and pray for bountiful crops. I think it could even be said that the romantic ( sexual) daliances so famously associated with the court,(which are celebrated at New Year`s by many Japanese through the card game Hyakunin Isshu- which is based on a collection of classical poetry) were in fact also believed to be part of the ritual function to guarantee success in agriculture throughout the land.
It goes without saying that it would have been only natural for farmers in early spring ( at the old New Year) to greet each other with- may your seeds sprout!
The connection of New Year`s to agriculture is still clearly evident by the fact that even in big cities Japanese families put up New Year`s decorations consisting of rice stalks and other plant matter. These decorations, and O-Shogatsu ( New Year`s) itself, are a celebration of LIFE, RENEWAL and the BOUNTY of NATURE.
So on the occassion of this New Year`s Day, Id like to wish you a big OMEDETO-
may all your seeds take root and flourish!
And if you are interested I have written about an obscure but fascinating Japanese custom- to refrai from killing mice during the first 3 days of the year, during which the little critters are called YOME GA KIMI (嫁が君):
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Around the Spring Equinox in Japan, All Around Things Start To Stir — Even the Graveyards!
An old grave with flowers for O-Higan
As the daylight hours grow longer, and the air, soil, and water gradually begin to warm up, all around us things begin to stir. Plants, animals, and humans gradually emerge from their state of FUYUGOMORI (冬篭り, hibernation, holing up or bundling up for the winter), and by the week of the spring equinox, when daytime and nighttime hours are just about equal, Tsukuba (and the rest of the Kanto Plain) is bursting with life and activity -- EVEN THE GRAVEYARDS !
This is because, in Japan, the two equinox days, and the three days before and after them, are a traditional time to visit the family graves (O-Haka Mairi , お墓参り), clean them and the area around them, and make offerings of flowers, incense, and even the favorite foods and/or beverages of the deceased. Thus during the equinox weeks, or O-Higan (お彼岸) , the cemeteries of Japan are teeming with activity (sweeping, sprinkling, and praying), smells (various types of incense) and color (all sorts of unusual flowers left as offerings).
Unusual mound type grave in Tsukuba
Though the word HIGAN (彼岸) is of Indian origin and refers to THE OTHER SHORE (as opposed to THIS SHORE, the world we live in), or the Buddhist Paradise, this way of observing the equinox days by visiting the family graves is UNIQUELY Japanese. It seems to have developed as an amalgamation of traditional ancestor worship, ancient agricultural rites, and Buddhism.
In ancient times, farmers would visit the graves of their ancestors on the equinox days, in spring, just before preparing the fields for planting, and then again in autumn, just before the harvest, and pray that the spirits intervene in helping to bring about abundant crops. After the introduction of Buddhism, and especially the concept of the Saiho-Gokuraku-Jodo (the Western Paradise), the equinoxes became more significant still, as the sun sets almost exactly DUE WEST on those days, giving the universe a perfect alignment with paradise.
The first recorded Buddhist ceremonies referred to as O-Higan were held in the early ninth century by the Emperor Heizei, in an effort to pacify the spirit of the Emperor Sudo, who had died after having been accused of involvement in an assassination. However, some scholars suggest that Prince Shotoku (Shotoku Taishi 573-621), an early and enthusiastic promoter of Buddhism, held Buddhist style rites on the day that the Japanese traditionally worshiped their ancestors, in order to link the two.
It is also interesting that in the Heian Period, Higan lasted for eleven days after the equinox days. It was only in the 1830s that Higan began to be celebrated for a one-week period, the 3 days before and after the equinoxes. The reason for the additional six days around the actual equinox days is that they are meant to represent the Six Cardinal Virtues of Buddhism (rokuharamitsu, 六波羅蜜).
I have written about O-Higan before, so for additional information please have a look at my other articles (e.g. In Line With the Far Side) and for some more on this season, see Bitter Herbs in this Season’s Sweet.
O-Higan Offerings
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