nen (year)
chû (in, inside)
nenchû (whole year; all year round; throughout the year)
gyo (honorable, manipulate, govern)
ji (emperor's seal)
gyoji (imperial seal, privy seal)

---

❖ Ethnographic term meaning: traditional observances repeated as a matter of custom in the same manner and style, and at the same point in the annual calendar

go (five)
sek | setsu (node, season, occasion)
ku (words, phrase, clause, sentence, passage, paragraph)
sekku (seasonal festival)

---

❖ The five seasonal festivals
❖ Of Buddhist origin
❖ nanakusa no sekku (Jan 7th)
❖ momo no sekku (March 3rd)
❖ tango no sekku (May 5th)
❖ tanabata (July 7th)
❖ kiku-no-sekku (September 9th)

haru (springtime, spring)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Spring festivals
❖ February 4 – May 5

hina (doll)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ doll festival / girls' festival / peach festival
❖ One of the go-sekku
❖ March 3
❖ Also called joshi no sekku, jôshi, jômi, momo no sekku

jo (female, woman)
shi (child)
no (possesive particle)
sek | setsu (node, season, occasion)
ku (words, phrase, clause, sentence, passage, paragraph)
sekku (seasonal festival)

---

jô (up, above)
shi (sign of the snake or serpent, sixth sign of Chinese zodiac, April*)

---

jô (up, above)
mi (sign of the snake or serpent, sixth sign of Chinese zodiac, April*)

---

momo (peach)
no (possesive particle)
sek | setsu (node, season, occasion)
ku (words, phrase, clause, sentence, passage, paragraph)
sekku (seasonal festival)

---

* In the lunarsolar calendar April is the third month which was shifted to March with the change to the solar calendar

hi (that, the)
gan (beach)
higan (other shore)

---

❖ (See higan)
❖ Equinoctial week
❖ Centered around shunbun
❖ (See haru no higan)

shun (spring)
bun (share, part, segment)

---

❖ Vernal equinox; spring equinox
❖ Between March 19 and 21
❖ (See shunbun-no-hi)

ki (tree, wood)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Tree festival
❖ 1st Sunday in April

ki (strange, strangeness, curiosity)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Strange festival with bizarre or unusual ritual
❖ These can occur throughout the year

bus | butsu (buddha)
shô (birth, life)
e (meeting, party)

---

❖ Buddha's birthday festival
❖ April 8
❖ Also called gôtan-e, hana-eshiki, kanbutsu-e, ryûge-e, yokubutsu-e

gô (descend, precipitate, fall, surrender)
tan (nativity, be born)
e (meeting, party)

---

hana (flower)
e (meeting, party)
shiki (ceremony, rite)
eshiki (memorial service, temple service)

---

kan (pour)
butsu (buddha)
e (meeting, party)

---

ryû (dragon, imperial)
ge | ke (splendor, flower, petal, shine, luster, ostentatious, showy, gay, gorgeous)
e (meeting, party)

---

yoku (bath)
butsu (buddha)
e (meeting, party)

hana (flower)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Flower festival
❖ April 8

ko (child)
domo (present, serve (meal), accompany)
no (possessive particle)
hi (day, sun)

---

❖ Children's day
❖ A day to celebrate the happiness of children and to express gratitude toward mothers
❖ May 5

tan (edge, origin)
go (noon)
no (implied possessive particle)
sek | setsu (node, season, period)
ku (phrase, passage)
sekku (seasonal festival)

---

tan (edge, origin)
go (noon)
no (possessive particle)
sek | setsu (node, season, period)
ku (phrase, passage)
sekku (seasonal festival)

---

❖ Boys' festival
❖ The beginning of summer
❖ One of the go-sekku
❖ May 5
❖ Also called tango

tan (edge, origin)
go (noon)

---

tan (edge, origin)
go (five)

natsu (summer)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Summer festivals
❖ May 6 – August 7

aoi (hollyhock)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Hollyhock festival – prayers for a abundant grain harvests
❖ Usually about May 15

ge (summer)
shi (climax, arrive, reach, attain)
geshi (summer solstice, midsummer)

---

❖ Geshi occurs between June 20 and 22
❖ Also called geshi-no-hi

ge (summer)
shi (climax, arrive, reach, attain)
no (possessive particle)
hi (day, sun)
geshi-no-hi (day of the summer solstice)

ge (summer)
shi (climax, arrive, reach, attain)
sai (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)
geshisai (midsummer festival, midsummer feast)

sei (holy, sacred, pure)
ge (summer)
shi (climax, arrive, reach, attain)
sei-gashi (midsummer wellwishing)

---

❖ "sei-geshi to you and yours..."

oo (great, large, big)
hara.e (exorcise, purification)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Great Purification rite, a ceremony performed to cast out the tsumi and impurities of the entire population, ooharae is performed regularly on the last day of June and December
❖ The ooharae-no-kotoba is read on these dates
❖ It may also be performed on special occasions when required, such as at times of pestilence or disaster, or before the advent of a major festival
❖ (See chi-no-wa, hitogata)
❖ June 30
❖ Also December 31 (See toshikoshi-no-harae)
❖ Also called oharai matsuri, nagoshi-no-harae, nagoshi no ooharae, nagoshi no ooharai

o (honorable - written with kanji or hiragana)
hara.i (exorcise, purification)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

na | natsu (summer)
go.shi (cross over, move to)
nago.shi (beginning of summer)
no (possessive particle)
hara.e (exorcise, purification)

---

na (noted, distinguished)
go.shi (cross over, move to)
nago.shi (beginning of summer)
no (possessive particle)
oo (implied – great, large, big)
hara.e (exorcise, purification)

---

na (noted, distinguished)
go.shi (cross over, move to)
nago.shi (beginning of summer)
no (possessive particle)
oo (implied – great, large, big)
hara.i (exorcise, purification)

gi (national or local god, peaceful, great)
on (park, garden, yard, farm)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Originated in kyôto as part of a purification ritual to appease the kami thought to cause fire, floods and earthquakes
❖ All of July, especially July 14 - 17

gi (national or local god, peaceful, great)
on (park, garden)

---

❖ A term referring to kami (chiefly susanoo-no-mikoto) enshrined in the yasaka jinja in kyôto, and worshiped for their abilities to cast out and purify evil

All these are pronounced tanabata:
shichi (seven)
yû (evening)

---

tana (shelf, ledge, rack, mount, mantle, trellis)
bata | hata (flag)

---

tana (shelf, ledge, rack, mount, mantle, trellis)
bata | hata (mechanism, machine)

---

o.ri (weave, fabric)
me (female, woman)

---

❖ Festival of the Weaver
❖ Star Festival
❖ Based on the love-story of orihime (weaver princess) and kengyû (cattle-herder) being seperated by her father and allowed to meet only one day a year
❖ One of the go-sekku
❖ July 7

aki (autumn, fall)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Autumn festivals
❖ August 8 – November 6

hatsu (first time, beginning)
ho (ear, ear (grain), head)

---

hatsu (first time, beginning)
ho (ear (of grain), head)

---

❖ (first ears of rice or crops or harvest of the season, offering to kami)
❖ The best ears of grain are removed and presented to kami as an offering
❖ hatsuho has come to mean any offering presented to kami
❖ Occurs around mid-August

kiku (chrysanthemum)
no (possessive particle)
sek | setsu (node, season, period, occasion)
ku (words, phrase, clause, sentence, passage, paragraph)
sekku (seasonal festival)

---

❖ Chrysanthemum festival
❖ One of the go-sekku
❖ September 9
❖ Also called chô-yô

chô (heavy, heap up, pile up)
yô (sunshine, yang principle, positive, male, heaven, daytime)

hi (that, the)
gan (beach)
higan (other shore)

---

❖ (See higan)
❖ Equinoctial week
❖ Centered around shûbun
❖ (See aki no higan)

shû (autumn)
bun (share, part, segment)
❖ Autumnal equinox, autumn equinox, fall equinox
❖ Between September 22 and 24
❖ (See shûbun-no-hi)

October
❖ The tenth month in the traditional Japanese lunarsolar calendar — November
❖ With the adoption of the Gregorian calendar it was shifted to October
❖ According to Japanese tradition, all kami meet in izumo each year in October
❖ October is known around izumo as kamiarizuki
❖ (See rusugami)

---

kami (that which inspires feelings of reverence, gratitude, awe, or terror)
ari (exists, located in)
zuki (month, moon)
(month with kami)

---

❖ October is known everywhere else in Japan as kannazuki
kan- (kami)
na. (none, nothing, not)
zuki (month, moon)
(month without kami)
❖ alternatively: if na is used as ateji (phonetically)
kan- (kami)
na (possesive particle)
zuki (month, moon)
(month with kami)

---

❖ Also called kaminazuki, kaminashizuki

kan- (kami)
na. (none, nothing, not) – See alternate translation above
zuki (month, moon)

---

kami (that which inspires feelings of reverence, awe, gratitude, fear/terror)
na. (none, nothing, not) – See alternate translation above
zuki (month, moon)

---

kami (that which inspires feelings of reverence, awe, gratitude, fear/terror)
na.shi (without)
zuki (month, moon)

October 15th, 16th, 17th – Harvest thanksgiving
❖ Offering the first fruits to amaterasu omikami

October 15th & 16th – At the geku (outer shrine)

October 16th & 17th – At the naiku (inner shrine)

fuyu (winter)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Winter festivals
❖ November 7 - February 3

nii (new)
na.me (taste)
sai (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Offerings of the first fruits of the year's grain harvest and partaking thereof
❖ November 23 & 24

tô (winter)
ji | shi (climax, arrive, reach, attain)
tôji (winter solstice, midwinter)

---

❖ tôji occurs between December 21 and 22
❖ Also called tôji-no-hi

tô (winter)
ji | shi (climax, arrive, reach, attain)
no (possessive particle)
hi (day, sun)
tôji-no-hi (day of the winter solstice)

sei (holy, sacred, pure)
tô (winter)
ji | shi (climax, arrive, reach, attain)
sei-tôji (midwinter wellwishing)

---

❖ "sei-tôji to you and yours..."

tô (winter)
ji | shi (climax, arrive, reach, attain)
sai (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)
tôjisai (midwinter festival, midwinter feast)

shiro (white)
okera (a type of herb, atractylodes japonica)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ People catch the sacred flame of okera, which is a medical herb, with a little rope; swinging the rope all the way to home
❖ The fire for the first meal of the family is lit with this flame
❖ The flame is used to ward off evil forces and the negative energy of the past year
❖ December 31, New Years Eve

toshi (year)
koshi (cross over, move to)
no (possessive particle)
hara.e (exorcise, purification)

---

❖ December 31
❖ (See ooharae matsuri)
❖ Also ooharae, toshikoshi ooharae, toshikoshi oharai, shiwasu ooharai

oo (great, large, big)
hara.e (exorcise, purification)
ooharae (great purification)

---

toshi (year)
koshi (cross over, move to)
oo (great, large, big)
hara.e (exorcise, purification)

---

toshi (year)
koshi (cross over, move to)
o (honorable)
hara.i (exorcise, purification)

---

shi (teacher, expert)
wasu | ha (subject particle) sô (run)
shiwasu (name for 12th lunar month – literally: teacher run)
oo (great, large, big)
hara.i (exorcise, purification)

o (honorable) – written with kanji or hiragana
shô (correct, justice, righteous)
gatsu (month, moon)
shôgatsu (New Year, New Year's Day, the first month, January)

---

❖ January 1-7

hatsu (first time, beginning)
hi (day, sun)
no (possessive particle)
-de (exit, leave)

---

❖ Celebration of the first sunrise of the new year
❖ Jaunuary 1

hatsu (first time, beginning)
mô.de (visit a shrine)

---

❖ Initial visit to a shrine at the first of the year to pray for happiness and divine protection during the coming year

kado (gate)
matsu (pine tree)

---

❖ A traditional Japanese decoration of the New Year placed in pairs in front of homes supposedly to welcome ancestral spirits or kami of the harvest
❖ They are placed after Christmas until January 7 and are considered shintai
❖ They are ritually burned on January 15
❖ (See shimeyaki shinji)

jin (person)
jitsu (day, sun)

---

❖ One of the go-sekku
❖ January 7
❖ Also called nanakusa-no-sekku

nana (seven)
kusa (species, kind, variety, seed)
no (possesive particle)
sek | setsu (node, season, occasion)
ku (words, phrase, clause, sentence, passage, paragraph)
sekku (seasonal festival)

---

nana (seven)
kusa (grass, weeds, herbs)
no (possesive particle)
sek | setsu (node, season, occasion)
ku (words, phrase, clause, sentence, passage, paragraph)
sekku (seasonal festival)

---

❖ Festival of seven herbs

yuki (snow)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Snow festival
❖ January 14 & 15

ta (rice field, rice paddy)
aso.bi (play)

---

❖ Ritual pantomime of the year's rice-cycle
❖ Performed at the first full moon of the new year to divine a good harvest

setsu (node, period, season)
bun (part, segment, share)
sai (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Last day of winter
❖ Beans are thrown with the words oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi
鬼は外、福は内
❖ Literally: oni (ogre, demon, ghost*) is outside, (good) fortune is inside
(* oni also carries the meaning of fierce, relentless, merciless)
❖ Roasted soybeans are eaten for good luck
(one for each of your years plus one for the coming year)
❖ February 3
❖ (See oni)

aku (bad, false, evil, wrong)
tai (voice, attitude)
akutai (abusive language)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Cursing festivals

a. (bad, false, evil, wrong)
a. (bad, evil)
kô (mouth) – out-dated kanji
akko (abuse, insult, slander, evil speaking, bad mouth)

---

❖ Bad-mouthing festival

December 14 – Trade insults with each other and a 'tengu'

December 31 – Two groups hurl abuse at each other (See shôreisai)

January 5 – Trade insults with each other

hi (fire, flame, blaze)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Fire festivals
❖ Frequently associated with midwinter or new years

o (honorable) – written with kanji or hiragana
hi (fire)
taki (burn, kindle, build a fire)

---

o (honorable)
hi (fire)
taki | yaki (burning)

---

❖ Festival held on the 11th lunar month with bonfires at shrines
❖ A thanksgiving event for the harvest
❖ November 8 or December 8
❖ Also (fire-burning) on tôji
❖ Also called ohitaki taisai, o-hotaki

o (honorable)
hi (fire)
taki (burn, kindle, build a fire)
tai (great, large, big)
sai (ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship

---

o (honorable)
ho (fire)
taki (burn, kindle, build a fire)

hi (fire)
ta.ki (burn, kindle, build a fire)

---

hi (fire)
taki | yaki (burning)

---

❖ Building a fire

shô (pine tree)
rei (custom)
sai (ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)
reisai (annual festival)

---

❖ (Pine Festival)
❖ Held on the night of New Year's Eve
❖ Involving either pine torches or a bonfire
❖ Two groups engage in various contests to divine whether the coming year will bring good harvests

dondo (onomatopoeic or mimetic word – rapidly, steadily)
taki (burn, kindle, build a fire)

---

dondo (onomatopoeic or mimetic word – rapidly, steadily)
taki | yaki (burning)

---

❖ A bonfire in which the New Year's gateway decorations are burned on koshôgatsu
❖ Usually on the 15th day of the new year

ko (little, small)
shô (correct, justice, righteous)
gatsu (month, moon)
shôgatsu (New Year, New Year's Day, the first month, January)

---

❖ (Little New Year)
❖ The 14th-16th days of the lunar New Year

sa (left)
gi (righteousness, justice, morality, honor, loyalty, meaning)
chô (long, leader)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ (sagichô appears to be name whose origin is unknown)
❖ Fire festival involving assembling, stacking, and burning the pine new year's door ornaments of each household at a set location such as the village border, the village square, or a particular field
❖ Usually held on january 15

shi.me (shut, tighten, tie, lock, fasten)
yaki (burning)
shin (kami)
ji (matter, thing, fact, business)

---

❖ A bonfire in which the New Year's gateway decorations, old ofuda, omamori, and shrine decorations are ritually burned after being purified
❖ January 15

bon (lantern festival, basin, tray)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Festivals for the dead
❖ A Japanese Buddhist custom

haka (gravesite, tomb)
mai.ri (visit - to a religious site, e.g. shrine, temple, grave)

---

❖ Visit to a family gravesite to clean it and make offerings
❖ Also pronounced bosan
❖ Also called o-haka mairi

o (honorific prefix - written with kanji or hiragana)
haka (gravesite, tomb)
mai.ri (visit - to a religious site, e.g. shrine, temple, grave)

hi (that, the)
gan (beach)
higan (other shore)

---

❖ Equinoctial weeks
❖ (See haru no higan, aki no higan)
❖ Occurs twice a year and each lasts one week, with the vernal equinox and autumn equinox occurring in the middle of their respective weeks
❖ During this period, it is customary for Buddhists to visit temples to renew their dedication to Buddhism
❖ A Buddhist term, higan refers to "the other side of the river crossed by the dead"
❖ Buddhists also visit the graves of their departed to comfort the spirits of the ancestors on the other side – bringing flowers, incense, water or the departed's favorite food as an offering and greet the departed to report on their well-being (See haka mairi)
❖ Also called o-higan

o (honorable) – written with kanji or hiragana
hi (that, the)
gan (beach)
higan (other shore)

hi (that, the)
gan (beach)
higan (other shore)
e (meeting, meet)

---

❖ Buddhist services during the equinoctial week

hi (that, the)
gan (beach)
higan (other shore)
no (possessive particle)
chû (middle, in, inside, middle, center)
nichi (day, sun, counter for days)

---

❖ The middle day of higan (the equinoctial week)
❖ (See shunbun-no-hi, shûbun-no-hi)

haru (springtime, spring)
no (possessive particle)
hi (that, the)
gan (beach)
higan (other shore)

---

❖ higan of Spring

shun (spring)
bun (part, segment, share)
no (possessive particle)
hi (day, sun)

---

❖ Day of the vernal equinox
❖ (See shunbun)
❖ shunbun-no-hi occurs between March 19 and 21
❖ The week in which shunbun-no-hi is the middle day is called the spring equinoctial week (higan)
❖ (See higan no chûnichi)

bo (male)
ta (rust colored, red)
bota (tree peony)
mochi (pounded-rice cake)

---

❖ (peony mochi)
❖ Red azuki bean mochi
❖ A traditional japanese pastry made by cooking glutinous rice, pounding it into a paste, and molding this into balls, which are filled with azuki bean jam, and dusted with soybean flour
❖ Made in the home to offer to the spirits of the ancestors

aki (autumn, fall)
no (possessive particle)
hi (that, the)
gan (beach)
higan (other shore)

---

❖ higan of Autumn

shû (autumn, fall)
bun (part, segment, share)
no (possessive particle)
hi (day, sun)

---

❖ Day of the autumn equinox
❖ (See shûbun)
❖ shûbun-no-hi occurs between September 22 and 24
❖ The week in which shûbun-no-hi is the middle day is called the autumn equinoctial week (higan)
❖ (See higan no chûnichi)

hi (that, the)
gan (beach)
higan (other shore, equinoctal week)
bana | hana (flower, bloom, blossom, petal)

---

❖ (equinox flower)
❖ Red amaryllis, red spider lily; cluster belladonna; cluster amaryllis
❖ Also called manjushage

man (wide, beautiful)
ju | shu (pearl, gem, jewel)
sha | sa (sand)
ge | ke (splendor, flower, petal, shine, luster, ostentatious, showy, gay, gorgeous)

---

man (wide, beautiful)
ju | shu (pearl, gem, jewel)
sa (sand)
ka (splendor, flower, petal, shine, luster, ostentatious, showy, gay, gorgeous)

---

❖ Also pronounced manjusaka

o (honorable) – written with kanji or hiragana
hagi (bush clover)

---

❖ Mochi covered with bean jam
❖ The name comes from an autumnal flower
❖ A traditional japanese pastry made by mixing together and cooking glutinous and nonglutinous rice, lightly squashing and molding this into balls, which are covered with bean jam, or else soybean flour or sesame seeds
❖ Made in the home to offer to the spirits of the ancestors

o (honorable)
bon (lantern festival, basin, tray)
matsuri (festival, feast, ritual, offer prayers, celebrate, deify, enshrine, worship)

---

❖ Festival to console the spirits of the dead ancestors
❖ On the 13th, a fire called mukae-bi is burned at the entrance of each house; the spirits of the dead ancestors are welcomed into the house and offerings are made to them on the butsudan
❖ On the 15th, another fire called okuri-bi is burned to send off the spirits of the dead ancestors on their return, or lanterns are floated down a river

kyû (old times, old things)
bon (lantern festival, basin, tray)

---

❖ (old bon)
❖ 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and so differs each year

shichi (seven)
gatsu (moon, month)
bon (lantern festival, basin, tray)

---

❖ July 15 on the solar calendar
❖ (Chin: ullambana)
❖ Also called urabon, urabon-e

u (ateji – phonetic-equivalent character)
ra (ateji)
bon (basin, lantern festival, tray)

---

u (ateji)
ra (ateji)
bon (basin, lantern festival, tray)

---

u (ateji)
ra (ateji)
bon (basin, lantern festival, tray)
e (meeting, meet, party)

---

u (ateji)
ra (ateji)
bon (basin, lantern festival, tray)
e (meeting, meet, party)

---

u (ateji)
ra (ateji)
bon (basin, lantern festival, tray)
e (meet, party)

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❖ Sutra on the practice of filial piety

o (honorable) – written with kanji or hiragana
chû (in, inside, middle, mean, center)
gen (beginning, former time, origin)

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❖ bon matsuri gifts

hachi (eight)
gatsu (moon, month)
bon (lantern festival, basin, tray)

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❖ The most commonly celebrated time
❖ August 15 on the solar calendar

bon (lantern festival, basin, tray)
odo.ri (jump, dance, leap, skip)

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❖ Bon dance

mukae (meeting, greeting, welcoming)
bi (fire, flame, blaze)

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❖ Lit on the 13th to welcome the spirits of the dead ancestors

oku.ri (sending off)
bi (fire, flame, blaze)

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❖ Lit on the 15th to send the spirits of the dead ancestors off on their return