若水【わかみず】 wakamizu （わかみづ）, first water [drawn on New Year's morning; literally "young water"]
- 初水【はつみず】 hatsu mizu first water [literal]
- 若井【わかい】 waka-i first (visit to the) well [literally "young well"]
- 若水迎【わかみずむかえ】 wakamizu-mukae meeting the first water
- 福水【ふくみず】 fukumizu blessed water / blessing-water
出初【でぞめ】 dezome fire-brigade parade [literally "first going out"]
- 消防出初式【しょうぼうでぞめしき】 shōbō dezome-shiki fire-brigade parade
七種【ななくさ】 nana kusa the seven herbs. [503]
- 七草【ななくさ】 nana kusa the seven herbs
左義長【さぎちょう】 sagichō （さぎちやう）, burning the (New Year's) decorations [normally January 14-15]
- どんど dondo burning the decorations
- とんど tondo burning the decorations
- 飾焚く【かざりたく】 kazari taku (to) burn the decorations
初詣【はつもうで】 hatsu-mōde （はつまうで）, first (temple/shrine) visit [of the New Year, on New Year's Day]
- 初参【はつまいり】 hatsu mairi first visit
- 初社【はつやしろ】 hatsu yashiro first (visit to a) Shinto shrine
This term refers to the New Year's Day tradition of visiting the tutelary
deity or the temple/shrine that lies in the "lucky direction"
(恵方 [えほう],
ehō),
and is also referred to as the New Year's pilgrimage to
ehō
(恵方参り [えほうまいり],
ehō mairi).
The lucky direction changes each year. The first visit is not
necessarily limited to the temple or shrine that lies in the lucky direction,
and many people simply visit the temples/shrines they usually attend.
Usually the first visit is in the early morning of New Year's Day,
but many people start out late on New Year's Eve to pay a visit at the
stroke of midnight. Special trains and busses run on New Year's Eve
for this reason. Even if one is not deeply religious, the first visit
to the temple or shrine at the beginning of
a new year is refreshing. The first purification of the year, performed by
a priest in the sanctuary, is called "first exorcism"
(初祓い [はつはらい],
hatsu harai);
the drawing of the first written oracle is called "first oracle"
(初御籤 [はつみくじ],
hatsu mikuji).
kami o osore hito o yukashimi hatsu-mōde
fearing the gods
thinking of people
the first temple visit
Tomiyasu Fūsei
kigi no moda hikaru made tatsu hatsu-mōde
until the silent trees
glimmer--
standing at the first temple visit
Katō Chiyoko
sōkyū o mitsumeru chikara hatsu-mōde
gazing at the blue sky
the strength of it--
the first temple visit
Kadokawa Teruko
shinryo ima hato o tatashimu hatsu-mōde
gods' design
makes the doves fly this moment
the first temple visit
Takahama Kyoshi
The doves suddenly take off. The poet thinks that it is by the gods'
will, an illustrative scene of the first visit on New Year's Day.
