3rd January – 睦月

初詣　Hatsu-Moude

Visiting the shrine or temple for the first time in the year, thanking the gods to protect family for previous year and wising the peace and good health for this year.

初詣 (Hatsu-moude) is generally conducted in the very early morning on 1st of January to 3rd of January, but in some region it could be until 7th of January.

There is an auspicious direction for each year and people traditionally goes to the shrine or temple located to that direction called Ehou-Mairi. (恵方詣)

For Hatsu-moude, what people does except wishing for the god in the shrine or temple are;

1. Drawing the fortune-telling to see how the year is going to be.

Omikuji (おみくじ) as a fortune-telling gives a message from the god, and many Japanese predict how the year is going to be.

The luckiest one is 大吉 (Daikichi) and goes down followed by 中吉 (Chuukichi) > 小吉 (Shoukichi) > 吉 (Kichi) > 末吉 (Suekichi) > 凶 (Kyou).

The 凶 (Kyou) is not that bad though – means you should work hard so the luck is coming back! Therefore, if you get Kyou, it does not mean the year is going to be awful, but depend on your effort, you can make the year awesome.

Also if the fortune-telling says 凶 (Kyou), people tie the fortune-telling paper on the tree beside the fortune-telling box in order to leave the bad luck. (there are many different opinions for that.)

2. Write a wish on the Ema (絵馬) 

Ema (絵馬) is the wood shaped pentagon with horse drawing (these days there are more different shapes and the drawings have more variation, such as other animals, anime characters and so on). Writing wish on this will make the wish come true, people believe.

As I have already mentioned about Toshigami-sama (年神様) on blog 1st January, This is the god who comes to each houses. On the other hand, the god in shrine is called Uji-gami-sama (氏神様), and there is the Hotoke-sama (仏様)=Buddha in temples. this type of gods and Buddha are enshrined by people around that area. So it’s good to visit the shrine or temple as well to welcome / say hi to the gods in the area and Buddha not only welcoming Toshigami-sama.

In another blog, I will explain the manner of visiting shrines and temples. I reckon many of you have already seen the scene of Japanese praying at shrines and temples. There are particular way of how to pray, so stay tuned:)