日本事象 一覧表 765選

Osoji is the thorough house cleaning done at the end of December before the new year.

Oshogatsu is the New Year period, and it is the biggest and most important holiday in Japan.

Osechi is the New Year meal of small dishes packed in stacked lacquer boxes, made in advance to last several days.

Obon is the summer period when ancestors are said to come home, and families gather to welcome them.

Kodomo no hi is Children's Day on May 5th, when families fly carp-shaped streamers outside the house.

Toshikoshi soba are buckwheat noodles eaten on New Year's Eve to wish for a long life and a clean break with the year.

Hatsumode is the first visit to a shrine or temple in the new year.

Haha no hi to chichi no hi, Mother's Day and Father's Day, are American imports kept on the same dates.

Hinamatsuri is the March 3rd festival for girls, when families display a set of ornamental dolls.

Bonenkai and shinnenkai, year-end and New Year parties, are the drinking gatherings that close and open the year.

Howaito de, or White Day, is March 14th, when men in Japan return gifts for Valentine's Day chocolate.

Bon odori is a summer dance in a circle around a raised platform, open to anyone passing by.

A matsuri is a local festival, usually held by a shrine, in which a deity is carried through the neighborhood.

Otsukimi is the autumn custom of looking at the full moon and offering rice dumplings and pampas grass.

Kagami biraki is the January custom of breaking up the decorative New Year rice cakes and eating them.

Kagamimochi is a stack of two round rice cakes displayed at New Year and broken open in January.

Kakizome is the first calligraphy of the year, written with a brush in early January as a wish or resolution.

Kashiwamochi and chimaki, oak-leaf and bamboo-wrapped rice cakes, are eaten on Children's Day, mostly in eastern and western Japan respectively.

A kadomatsu is a pine and bamboo arrangement set by the door to welcome the New Year deity.

A kanchu mimai is a midwinter card sent after the New Year period, often when a New Year card would be wrong.

Kanto matsuri is Akita's August festival of bamboo poles hung with lanterns, balanced on the palm, forehead, shoulder or hip.

Kisei rasshu, the homecoming rush, is the mass return to hometowns at New Year and in August.

Kinro kansha no hi, or Labor Thanksgiving Day, is a November 23rd holiday for valuing work and giving thanks.

Keiro no hi, or Respect for the Aged Day, is a September national holiday for honoring older people.

Kenkoku kinen no hi, National Foundation Day, is February 11th, marking Japan's founding without claiming it is the real date.

Kenpo kinenbi, or Constitution Memorial Day, is May 3rd, when Japan's postwar constitution came into force in 1947.

Goyo osame is the year's last working day; Japan largely closes from December 29th until offices reopen on January 4th.

Koromogae is the custom of switching to summer or winter clothes on a set date, usually in June and October.

Sapporo yuki matsuri, the Sapporo Snow Festival, is a week of giant snow sculptures in northern Japan every February.

Shogatsu no asobi, New Year games, are pastimes like kites, tops and karuta cards that survive mainly at New Year.