THE TREASURE-SHIP.
THE NEW YEAR’S DECORATIONS.
On the second, larger shops send out the first loads of goods for the year in handcarts. These carts are adorned with flags bearing the names of the firms, and the shops pride themselves upon the number of such loads they can send out on this day. In the evening hawkers come with pictures of a treasure-ship with the seven deities of fortune on board; over the picture is written an ode of thirty-one syllables which is remarkable for being a palindrome. It runs thus:—
Na ka ki yo no to o no ne fu ri no mi na me za me na mi no ri fu ne no o to no yo ki ka na.
It will be seen that if the syllables are taken each as one sound, the ode is same when read backward. It may be translated: “They have all awakened from the long night’s sleep; and how pleasant is the sound as the ship rides the waves!” These slips are eagerly purchased as they are supposed, if put under the pillow on this night, to give lucky dreams. The luckiest dream of all is, according to common superstition, that of Mount Fuji, next to which is a dream of a hawk, and the third that of an egg-plant.
On the fourth of January, the government offices are formally opened for the year, and other public and private offices follow suit. On the sixth the fire-brigades of Tokyo assemble in a public place and give acrobatic performances on fire-ladders to show their agility. This day closes the New Year’s festivities, and the decorations are removed. On the eighth, the Emperor reviews the troops in the morning; and on the same day most schools reopen after the New Year’s holidays. The sixteenth is the holiday for apprentices and servants, who go home to their parents or spend the day at the theatres or other places of amusement. The sixth of January opens what is called the period of lesser cold and the twentieth is the first day of the period of greater cold. For a fortnight from the latter date many male votaries, especially of the artisan class, run thinly-clad at night to worship at their favourite shrines as such enthusiasm will, it is believed, make them proficient in their callings; they ring a bell as they run. Some go to a well and pour cold water over themselves at midnight to be purified by that means from the sins of the world. Children go out before daybreak to practise their lessons, boys to read or fence and girls to sing or play the samisen. The shrines to which the first visit of the year should be paid are too numerous for mention.
On the second or third of February ends the period of greater cold, and with it nominally the winter season. In the evening peas are parched and thrown about in every room with the cry, “Fortune within,” and then they are flung outdoors with the shout, “Demons without.” This is to purify the house for the new spring season; and the members of the family eat each a number of these peas, which is one in excess of the years of their age. The eleventh is one of the three great national holidays; it is the anniversary of the coronation of Emperor Jimmu, the founder of the Japanese Imperial line, the other two being the New Year’s Day and the Emperor’s Birthday. There are six ordinary national holidays, namely, the anniversary of the death of Emperor Komei, the father of the present Emperor (January 30th), the Feast of the Vernal Equinox (March 21st or 22nd), when offerings are made to the Imperial ancestors on the equinoctial day, the anniversary of the death of Emperor Jimmu (April 3rd), the Feast of the Autumnal Equinox (September 23rd or 24th), the Feast of the New Season’s rice which is offered at the great Shrine of Ise (October 17th), and the Feast of the New Rice which is offered to the other deities and eaten for the first time in the Imperial Palace (November 23rd).
On the third of March falls the Feast of Dolls. Towards the end of February, the dolls are brought out and tiers of shelves put up, usually against a wall of the parlour. On the highest shelf sit the Emperor and Empress, with a screen at the back and overhead a roof adorned with curtains. Below them sit the Court ladies, while lower still are the five Court musicians and two armed guards. These are the regulation dolls, and to them may be added any others. Then food is set before the Emperor and Empress on two miniature trays; and all sorts of lilliputian household goods, such as chests of drawers, toilet stands, and kitchen utensils, are ranged on the lower tiers. Also white sake, which is sake barm dissolved in mirin, is offered to the dolls and drunk as well by the family. These dolls are displayed in every family where there is a daughter, and the feast is looked forward to by its female members, who invite their girl-friends to come and see the array of dolls. They are put away on the sixth or seventh.