Happy New Year in 2017

Mt.Fuji this morning at 7:01AM, Sunday,Junuary1, 2017

Kadomatsu

                                         Shimekazari, at my home

                                                       Nengajo,formal

                                         Nengajyo my designed

                                        

Ganjitsu,ガンジツ

Ganjitsu(January 1) is the day on which the birth of the new year is celebrated. Nobody works on the first three days of the new year, the period called sanga nichi,or shogatsu.

Shogatsu originally referred to the whole of January, but now is used just to refer to these three days. On these days, the people go to shrines, visit friends and relatives ,drink sake and eat special new -year dishes, called osechi. Children play(Japanese) cards,battledore and shuttlecock and fly kites. Shimenawa ,sacred rice-straw ropes,are hung across the top of the gateway,which is also decorrated with pine boughs or kadomatsu (gate pines).

The kadomatsu symbolizes a tree provided for the decent of the gods. This pine decoration is left in place from January the first to the seventh(until the fifteenth in olden times),

the period referred to as matsu no uchi.      (Quote from Nippon,July20,1982 published)

About Kadomatu and Shimekazari ⇓⇊

www.eikaiwagakushu.com/nihonbunka/kadomatsu4.html

  

Remarks column:

In late years, in Japan the scene which children play(Japanese) cards , battledore and shuttle cock and fly kites for New Year holidays, became uncommon. I think that these may be because they became able to often play IT apparatuses of smartphone, i phone.

And then

Almost of Japanese write a greeting card which is called"nengajo" of New Year, in December, and mail it. But we send the letter of being in mourning,when in a family has a dead person in the year.

In addition,

Postcard circulation of New Year cards published by Japan Post Co., Ltd. peaked at 4.46 billion sheets in 2003 and declined every year, and it fell to 2,853 million pieces in 2016.

Many factors for this decrease will be due to smartphone, iphone, and almost of company do

not use gradually.

By the way my number of new year greeting cards created is 110, but at the peak it was 330.

I will show my created new year's greeting cards:

This year is called the Year of the Rooster on Zodiac, which was imported from Ancient China.

The Zodiac has 12 animals, with one animal allocated every year and its order is immovable

So, many "Nengajo" with Rooster will designed.