Setsubun and Mamemaki

February 3rd is 'Setsubun' in japan.

we usually throw soybeans called Mamemaki on the day for　ceremony to drive away evil spirits.

Somehow Japnese evil images are like this..:D

very scarely dont they?How about you?

Mamemaki is usually performed by the toshiotoko of the household (i.e., the male who was born on the corresponding animal year on the Chinese zodiac), or else the male head of the household.

Roasted soybeans (called Fuku mame) are thrown either out the door or at a member of the family wearing an Oni (demon or ogre) mask, while the throwers chant "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" The words roughly translate to "Demons out! Luck in!"

It shows 'Fukumame' in Kanji. I bought this one at the supermarket yesterday:)

 The beans are thought to symbolically purify the home by driving away the evil spirits that bring misfortune and bad health with them. Then, as part of bringing luck in, it is customary to eat roasted soybeans, one for each year of one's life, and in some areas, one for each year of one's life plus one more for bringing good luck for the year to come.

People used to decorate the head of sardine with holly at the entrances as a ward off evil.  Nowdays we dont see that display

Mamemaki in kyoto Gion with Maiko-san

what do you describe about this year in just one word?

When we look back at this year ,we used to figure out in japanese Kanji.

How do you feel like whole of this year?
How can you image if you describe thaｔ?
we vote for our idea of kanji.
Every year at this time, the high priest of Kiyomizu temple  in Kyoto writes down  like this...

Calligraphy is a creative art form which attempts to express spiritual depth and beauty by means of kanji and kana characters written with a brush and sumi (ink).

Ad the Priest are just writing -we pronounce it  'shin' and means 'New'

 It describe that  'People have been worrying about accepting something new to ourselves through this year around us.

For example..　new administration of Hatoyama, spread of the new influenza virus and whatever new...

Anyway we wish we were more safely and happier and kept peace at coming next year.

Have a nice weekend!!

Rakugo

Do you know Rakugo(which is the one of our culture) in Japan?　

It is too difficult to explain  for myself but Diane (who is professional at Rakugo in Japan) could do performance instead of me. (somehow strange??)
I promise she'll make you laugh at//

Have a nice Sunday!!

please click video↓
http://www.diane-o.com/jp/rakugo/index.html

Shichi-Go-San

Shichi-Go-San (七五三, seven-five-three?) is a traditional rite of passage and festival day in Japan for three and seven year-old girls and three and five year-old boys, held annually on November 15. As Shichi-Go-San is not a national holiday, it is generally observed on the nearest weekend.

This is my daughter ( at 7yrs old) with long candy bag called chitose-ame.

Chitose-ame (candy)is long ,thin,red and white candy- symbolizes healthy growth and longevity.

Face Font in Japanese?

So I'm not sure if you know face fonts as follows; for example
 
  (*^_^*)　smile
　(ー_ー)!! angry or annoy
　(^o^) laugh with fun or pleasure
　(T_T) cry,sad,poor　
  (>_<) pain or something

...etc...

Japanese email- we  use Japanese two-byte characters.  We believe that Japanese language sometimes misunderstand even japanese ourselves at reading-particularly short sentense. We need to pay attentions writing emails.Truly we dont want to make misunderstanding each other. So that it depens on case by case, we usually use face fonts at the end of sentense. just email or mobile mail between friends or family.
But never use at work and official of course.

anyway, you already remeber Kawaii (Japanese) -pretty,cute,

"Kawaii (*^_^*)”

On writing in Japanese;
When you say   'Glad to ...' 
we say 'Ureshii!!'(Japanese)   add to (^o^)
when you say ' I enjoy...'  we say 'Tanoshii!!'(Japanese)
 we use (^o^)or＼(^o^)／ 　

but not exactly rule

I guess that face fonts can help to express our emotions more to others how we feel clearly.

Do you have any face fonts of one-byte characters?

Thanks.

YUKATA:浴衣

The Tenjin Festival is held in Osaka on July 24th and 25th.　So my daughter dressed up with Yukata.

So here's displayed her Yukata with lovely full of red and pink flowers motives on it.

Yukata was a summer casual kimono those days but nowadays we used to wear at summer festival.





And this is called Obi which is a kind of long and wide belt.




this is butterfly motif


Obi is tied and rolled on the Yukata with variety of design. when we wear kimono or Yukata, we need someone's help acturally.

How do i look? Perfect!!
This design is called Bunko-musubi

And these are Geta. we put it on instead of shoes at Yukata

And NOW luckly i am watching the live broadcast about tenjin festival on TV program with fun.

Season Greetings

Japanese send seasonal gifts called Oseibo at the end of the year, and Ochugen in summer. It's a gift for someone who has done something for you, like a teacher or a boss.While more than half buy their midyear gifts at department stores, nearly 30 percent buy them on the Internet.

I always send Ochugen to my uncle and relatives and yesterday i got this post-card for thanks.

Does everyone send post-cards ?

These are some post-card and letters for summer greetings which i am prepared to write. Now it is before summer on the calender though.

Preparing

I visited to my parents house near my house 20-minutes ride by bus yesterday.

My father was setting a reed blind (which called Yoshizu in japanese) and he was leanning against the wall by the window. But actually my father couldnt set it by himself i did help for him.

This is an another old blind made of bumboo hanging by the window at my parents house, too.

We used to set up before hot summer .They are kind of traditional Japanese house style. If you visit Kyoto or Nara region,you can find them easily.
It looked so comfortable for me and felt something cool breezing.


How do you feel?

TERUTERU BOZU ：てるてるぼうず

It has been rainnig since this monday morning here. It is very humid and dull.
i feel kainda uncomfortable at home.
So I have a memory about such as rainy days,
I think about my childfood's days .And this is a picture of Teruterubozu in Japan.
It is a small doll which made of paper or cloth. My mother used to hung outside hoping for fine weather. We wish it would be fine day tommorow singing a song.
♪てるてるぼうず　てるぼうず　あした　天気にしておくれ♪

It is a sweet memory.