New Year
FIRST PRAYEROF THE YEAR.
Begin the year with a prayer.
From the fervour of the festival to the hush at the year's end. The temple bell trembles through the cold air, lanterns light the approach, and people pray for a safe year ahead. Hatsumōde is not a holiday outing but the custom of offering the year's first prayer at a shrine or temple.
Shrines and temples follow different forms of worship. Please follow each site's own guidance.
01
Hatsumōde (First Shrine or Temple Visit of the New Year)
初詣
The custom of visiting a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple at the start of the new year. Worship manners differ between shrines and temples, and individual sites may have their own practices, so it is important to follow each shrine's or temple's own guidance.
02
Joya no Kane (New Year's Eve Temple Bells)
除夜の鐘
A Buddhist year-end rite in which temple bells are rung on New Year's Eve to mark the passage from the old year to the new. The bell is commonly struck 108 times, a number generally said to represent human worldly desires (bonnō).
03
Setsubun (Eve of the Beginning of Spring)
節分
Originally the turning points between the four seasons — in the calendar, the day before the start of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Today it usually means the day before the start of spring, known for scattering beans while chanting 'Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi' ('Demons out, fortune in').
02 — New Year Journey
FROM THE LAST NIGHTTO THE FIRST LIGHT.
From the last night of the year to the first morning.
23:00
The last night of the year. At the temple, the bell is made ready.
23:45
Lanterns glow along the approach as people slowly gather.
00:00
The year turns.
BELL
The bell trembles through the night air. How and when it is rung differs by temple.
SANDŌ
Hands and mouth are purified at the water basin before approaching the hall.
DAWN
The first sunrise of the year begins to light the town.
PRAYER
A prayer for a safe year ahead.