Welcome to Horace Mann's Webpage on:
Medieval Japanese Festivals and
Celebrations
Introduction:
The Japanese people loved festivals. They
celebrated the changes of seasons, the new year, religious events,
and days to honor their ancestors, leaders, and cultural heroes, and
they celebrated special events in their own lives.
I. Festivals celebrating the seasons and annual
cultural events
A. New Year Festival on January 1st -
Shogatsu
On January 1st families gather to
drink a special kind of sake that is supposed to ensure a long
life, eat a special kind of soup containing sticky rice cakes,
and "wipe away any bitter memories remaining from the previous
year."
People decorate the entrances to their homes
with branches of pine and straw, which symbolically prevent the
entrance of anything impure. They also visit shrines to pray
for good fortune in the coming year. They go to the homes of
relatives and friends to exchange New Year's greetings.
Children enjoy traditional New Year's amusements like
battledore, spinning tops, kites, and sugoroku, a Japanese
version of parcheesi. The New Year's celebration is the biggest
event on the calendar in Japan, and all companies and
government offices are closed for the first three days of the
year.
Courtesy
Japan
of Today JIN
B. Seasonal Change - Setsubun
On February 3 or 4, the Japanese
celebrate the traditional beginning of spring. The traditional
way of celebrating this day is by scattering beans about the
home to ward off evil spirits.
C. Doll Festival - Hina Matsuri
The Doll Festival takes place on March
3. Families with girls display a set of dolls representing the
ancient imperial court and celebrate by drinking a special kind
of sweetened white sake.
Courtesy Japan
of Today JIN
D. Children's Day (Boys' Day) -
The fifth day of the fifth month has
been celebrated in China and Japan since ancient times. Iris
flowers were used to decorate roofs and houses and as purifying
gifts. In the Edo period the sword-like iris leaves became part
of a celebration for the sons of the household, with displays
of large carp banners flying from the houses, military
trophies, and wonderful dolls representing the legends of
Japanese heroism. In Japan May 5 was made a national holiday in
1948. Families with boys hang streamers depicting carp (a fish)
outside their homes as symbols of strength. Boys display
samurai dolls and armor. The families celebrate by eating
special rice cakes.
Courtesy Japan
of Today JIN
Boys
display samurai dolls and dolls of heroes. Courtesy of
J.A.D.E.
E. Tanabata Festival
Celebrated on July 7, the Tanabata
Festival has its origins in a Chinese folk legend about the
romantic once-a-year meeting of two stars in the Milky Way: the
Cowherd Star and the Weaver Star. On this festival day people
write their wishes on strips of colored paper, which they
attach to branches of bamboo.
F. Bon Festival (also called O-bun
Festival)
The Bon Festival traditionally took
place for several days when the souls of the dead are believed
to return to their homes. Now it is usually held around August
15. Many people make trips back to their hometowns at this time
of the year to visit the graves of relatives. During this
festival people set up lanterns to guide the souls of the dead
to and from their homes, make offerings of food to the
deceased, and enjoy a special kind of dancing called bon odori.
The lanterns are often floated down rivers.
During Bon Festival the Japanese welcome
their ancestors' souls to our world. The origin of Bon is from
the Buddhist observance in China, and was introduced to Japan
in the seventh century. For religious reasons, people believe
that ancestors' spirits come back to their home during the Bon
Festival. People offer a variety of foods to the spirits of
ancestors in front of their Buddhist family altars and pray for
their ancestors' rest.
The festival is celebrated with Bon Odori
(folk dancing) to welcome their ancestor's souls. In addition,
Toro Nagashi (floating paper lantern) are held at the end of
Bon Festival in some areas to see off ancestors' souls. Today,
Bon season has become a family gathering time.
Odori
folk dancers at Bon Festival .
From JinJapan.
People send lanterns down rivers to "see off" the spirits of
their relatives
(It is also a Buddhist tradition for people
to pay respect at the graves of their relatives during the
vernal
[spring]
equinox around March 21 and the autumnal equinox around
September 23.)
II. Local festivals
Japan has a long tradition of holding
festivals to invite and welcome the gods, to feast them, and to be
with them. Many of these festivals have colorful parades with
beautiful floats and other decorations.
Since the Yayoi period (from about 300 B.C. to
A.D. 300) many festivals are connected with agriculture,
especially the cultivation of rice.
Women tranfering young rice seedlings into a
rice paddy. Photo courtesy of
Japan
of Today JIN
A. Lunar New Year
The Shinto rites at New Year's were
originally festivals at which people prayed for a bountiful
[filled with lots of
crops] harvest in the coming
year, and the rice festivals that are still celebrated
throughout Japan also involve prayers for a good harvest.
Kimono-clad girls [girls
wearing kimonos], their sleeves tied
back with red sashes, plant the rice, while musicians perform
nearby with drums, flutes, and bells. The dance traditionally
associated with such festivals gradually evolved as a part of
the noh theater.
B. Autumn Harvest Festivals
In the autumn harvest festivals are
held, and the first of the harvest is offered to the gods.
In rural villages [in the
country, outside city areas] the
entire community celebrates this autumn festival, and in many
places floats carrying symbolic gods are paraded through the
streets. At the Imperial Palace the Emperor presents offerings
of new rice and fruits to the gods.
C. Summer festivals to ward off
[chase off, keep
away] disease
Whereas many spring festivals are held
to pray for a good crop and fall festivals to offer thanks for
the harvest, many summer festivals have the aim of warding off
disease. Of Japan's three most important festivals, the Gion
and Tenjin festivals are both of this type.
1. Gion Festival
The Gion Festival on July 17 is famous for
the 32 floats that parade through the streets. It was
originally a festival of a spiritual cult
[religious
group] that was widely
followed from the Heian period (794-1192) through the middle
ages. Followers of this cult believed that disasters and
epidemics were caused by the spirits of powerful people who had
died leaving behind grudges. Epidemics frequently occurred in
summer, so most summer festivals were to placate
[to
calm] the spirits that caused
them.
Gion
float
2. Tenjin Festival
In the Tenjin Festival a great many boats
carrying drums and dolls follow boats bearing colorful floats
down the rivers of Osaka. This is also to bring good luck and
keep away angry spirits.
D. Nebuta Festival in northern Japan
Nebuta Festival is one of Japan's
largest summer festivals and takes place in early August. It
features nighttime parades of huge paper floats, lit from
within and depicting popular personalities past and present.
The festival is said to have its origins in a ritual that was
supposed to drive away drowsiness, since the word nebuta is
thought to derive from the Japanese word for sleepiness.
E. Okunchi Festival in Nagasaki (a large city
in southwest Japan)
In October is a harvest festival
famous for its dragon dance, which originated in China.
Floats depicting
[showing]
Edo-period trading ships, spouting whales, and other
symbols are paraded throughout the city.
F. Sanja Festival in Tokyo
Sanja is one of the biggest summertime
demonstrations of local pride in Tokyo.
Courtesy
Japan
of Today JIN
III. Birthdays and Other Rites of
Passage
A. Special birthdays
1. Shichi-go-san - The 7th, 5th, and 3rd
birthdays
The Shichi Go San or 7-5-3 Festival is one of
the uniquely Japanese festivals. Boys who are 3 and 5 years old,
and girls who are 3 and 7 are taken to a shinto shrine, often in
their first kimono, and the parents pray for their continuing good
health and prosperity.
This is on November 15th. This dates back
before the Edo period. November 15th is the harvest festival, and
families visit the god praying for their children's growth and at
the same time this occasion for the child to be recognized by the
public and the gods as a member of the society.
2. Coming of Age Day - January 15th
Another important birthday is the 20th, but all
people turning 20 in that year celebrate it together on January
15th. All 'new adults' are legally allowed to smoke, drink and
vote after this day.
3. Traditional Coming of Age Day
About 1000 years ago there
was a different coming of age ceremony. For boys the
ceremony was called "genpuku" and occurred between the ages
of 10 to 16. It was customary then for the young men to
shave their hair off the top front of their heads, leaving
only a ponytail on the back. The young males had to
demonstrate their adult strength by lifting a straw and rice
pack, which weighed between 130 -140 pounds.
For girls the Ceremony of Mogi came
between the ages of 12 - 14. She was able to get married at
this age. She would wear the long-sleeved kimono of the
unmarried woman until her own wedding. The young females
used to dye their front teeth black.
4. Marriage - Also see the History
of Japanese Weddings.
5. Death and Burial
For a complete listing of "rites of passage"
and celebrations at different important events in one's life, see
Japanese
Lifetime Rituals.
|
Learn more about it:
- For a good introduction to the
festivals of Japan, see "The
Japan of Today - Annual
Events"
- A high school student from
Australia who visited Japan for a while wrote about
the festivals she had experienced. See her
description
and reactions to the
festivals.
- See Kyoto's "Gion
Matsuri"
- Festivals
and Holidays
- For an image and explanation of
the Fukagawa Hachiman Festival
- The Bon
Festival (sometimes spelled
O-Bun or Obun) is called the "Festival of Lanterns".
The Bon Festival is dedicated to the ancestors who
have passed away. It is a very important festival and
has its roots in Shinto religion. Also see the
other
Japanese festivals
described at this site from Hawaii.
- For a fun-filled O-Bun
Festival in Los Angeles
(1997) by the Japanese-American community. There is a
shrine being carried in a parade, taiko drummers,
beautiful women in kimonos, exhibitions of martial
arts, and more! This site has great photographs with
clear explanations of what is happening.
- Takada
festival (May 19) has gone
on since the Houreki era (1751-1764). As in many
festivals, shrines are paraded through the streets.
[Compare this parade to parades today in the
U.S.] At the same site, you can see the Lion-Mask
Dance of Kurikasa. This festival is to pray for a good
harvest and safety of the town. The shishimai
(lion-mask dance) takes its roots from the dances of
the Ise Jingu shrine. The dance is very comical and
acrobatic, and sometimes one man carries another on
his shoulders to portray a giant lion. [Compare
this to Chinese Lion Dances in San Francisco, or with
Pekinese and Cantonese lion dances.]
- The Kite
Festival in Nagasaki is
held every April. Kite-flying competitions are held in
which competitors try to keep their kites in the air
as others try to knock them down with their kites. The
Japanese follow the Chinese astrological zodiac (year
of the tiger, rabbit, horse, rat, pig, rooster, etc.)
kites also help to celebrate this. See the kites for
the year of the rabbit at the address
above.
- Children's Days
- Boys'
Day - May 5th (Now
called "Children's Day") Two symbols of this
festival are the carp and the iris and
dolls
of warriors and heroes.
The name has changed from "Boys' Day" to
"Children's
Day" in recent
years.
- Girls' Day - March 3rd
"SHICHI-GO-SAN MOHDE" Celebrated with
dolls!
-
- Birthdates
and times are important for those who believe in
astrology (or the idea that one's destiny is
determined by the time of birth - an ancient Chinese
idea). Figure out the year and hour of your birth.
(For example, someone born in 1987 is born in the year
of the hare (rabbit). Born from midnight to 1 a.m. is
the hour of the rat. There is more to this system
described at this site. By e-mailing a student in
Japan, you can find out if this system is still
important today, and how Japanese children celebrate
their birthdays.
-
- See a chart
of the holidays throughout a
year in Japan.
Mikoshi portable shrine
|
Activities - Things to Do:
- List and compare the holidays and festivals in Japan today
with those in the United States. Which ones are similar? Which
ones are different? [For example, in Japan there is a holiday
pay respect to elders, to remember the end of World War II, New
Year's Day, Children's Day, Bun (Obun) Festival to honor
ancestors' spirits, etc. - See Japanlinks
and the listing
above to get information.] Are there holidays in the U.S.
similar to these?
- E-mail a student in Japan about holidays in the U.S. and ask
about holidays in Japan. See me to get e-mail addresses. Prepare a
list of holidays and festivals in your community and describe how
they are celebrated. Try to get pictures (or draw your own) to
illustrate these holidays. Don't forget those we celebrate in
school for multicultural understanding (Cinco de Mayo, Black
History month, Lunar New Year, etc.) Find out if children's
birthdays are celebrated in Japan. This will be sent to your
"e-mail pal" in Japan.
- Participate in a festival in Japantown, San Francisco. Take
photographs of the events and make a report to the class. Use the
Community Resources above to get more information about the
festivals in our city.
- All groups may be required to make an oral report on their
topic. See the oral report
criteria before you begin your report.
- Create a webpage: Show what you learned and did through
activities. Remember, a good webpage has an introduction, body,
and conclusion (with a reflection) just like a good composition.
(Add pictures from other sites or scan in photographs you have
taken of your activities.) A good webpage has good information
that is well researched and written in your own words. A good
webpage may also have links to lead the reader to more information
if they want to learn more.
- Evaluate the websites listed above according to a five-star
system. Which ones, if any, deserve all five stars? Set up your
criteria for evaluation. Your evaluations may become part of this
webpage.
- WEBQUEST! Show how much you know by completing this WebQuest
on Japanese Festivals!
Books and Magazines
- Japan, the Culture by Bobbie Kalman, Crabtree
Publishers, New York, 1989. See pages 16 - 23 for many of the
Japanese festivals, their history and their meaning.
- "The Japan of Today" is available (one copy free to teachers)
from Japan Information Service (part of the Japanese Consulate).
See pages 116 - 121 for a brief introduction to "Annual Events and
Festivals in Japan". For the book, contact Japan
Information Center, 50 Fremont Street, Suite 2200, San
Francisco, CA 94105 [415] 777-3533 (This same information
is on-line and listed below. See "The Japan of Today" on-line,
"Annual
Events".)
Video Resources
- "Annual Festivities and Ceremonies" from the series "Nippon,
the Land and its People" tells how Japanese "express their beliefs
involving deities or creeds appropriate to the situation or
festivity, whether it be Buddhist, Christian, or to one of the
various Shinto deities." [45 min.] This video is available
on loan from Japan
Information Center, 50 Fremont Street, Suite 2200, San
Francisco, CA 94105 Phone: [415] 777-3533. (Videos and
information are also available in Los
Angeles, California. Phone: [213] 617-6700.)
- Also available from Japan Information Center (see above) is a
video "Kyoto: Scenes and Festivals" [25 min.]
- Also available from Japan Information Center (see above) is a
video "Four Seasons for Children" [27 min.]. Included in
the video which shows the four seasons, are Japanese holidays
connected with children.
- Also available from Japan Information Center, a set of 60
slides of "Japanese Festivals", scenes from regional festivals
throughout Japan.
Community Resources
- Cultural events in the San Francisco Bay Area are presented as
part of the Japan Information Center site. Visit their Cultural
Calendar for festivals, lectures, exhibits, films, etc. Also
get their magazine. There is always a cherry blossom
festival (usually in April or May) in Japantown, S.F., a
demonstration of the Obun Dance in July, and a Nihonmachi Street
Festival (in July or August), and a Butoh festival (emphasis is on
dance) in August. Other information can be gathered from the S.F.
Convention and Tourist Bureau at http://www.sfvisitor.org/visitorinfo/html/JapanTown.html
- In the Los Angeles area, look for the annual O-Bun Festival
(part of Nisei Week festivities) presented by the
Japanese-American community. See http://www.black-kat.com/blackmoon/obon.html
for photographs of the 1997 events and more information.
-
- The
Fantastic World of Japanese Kites