Japan in the Eyes of Gaijin: Names of Month Part I

I've been admiring Japan, especially for its Manga (comics) and Anime (animation) since I was in the elementary school. The first figures I was familiar with were Doraemon, Ikkyu-san, and Ryo Saeba of City Hunter :p, then followed by cutie characters like Candy-Candy, Pansy, Miss Modern, and many more (too many to be mentioned). When I was in High School, I started to watch dorama and became a fan of Takuya Kimura ^^. I collected some mangas until the first-grade of college and ever had a dream to visit Japan someday. That's why I chose International Relations Studies (after failed two times in national exam to enter Medical Science). And my dream has been coming true. I'm in Japan now to accompany my husband who is pursuing his doctoral degree in the University of Tokyo. It has been my second year living in Japan and I'm still admiring Japan from many perspectives. For me, Japan, with its culture and society is really unique. You might have seen modernity and freedom in many western countries, but you have to learn about punctuality, perseverance (gaman-tsuyoi), and teamwork from Japanese. But we'll talk about it later.  

Speaking about uniqueness, many things or concepts have their own names and meanings in Japan. This includes months. Generally, months in Japan are simply marked by numbers and the word "month (月)" itself. For example, January is Ichi-gatsu (一月) which literally means "the first month". February is Ni-gatsu (二月) or "the second month", and so on and so forth. But in traditional way, months in Japan are named differently and each of them has its own meaning. The meaning depends on various things, such as season, culture, and custom. I am going to describe each of them as simple as I can. :)

January: Mutsuki (睦月), 'the month of affection'.

Kagami Mochi, a symbol of coming years,

yin-yang, moon-sun

It refers to the time when Japanese families, relatives, and friends get together to celebrate new year. New Year is one of the most important holidays in Japan. The beginning of the year is considered as renewal and symbolized by the 108 bell rings from the Buddhist temples on new year's eve. Many interesting things are held during the first 6 days of new year. Catching the first sunrise (hatsuhinode) is deemed important. Millions of Japanese people then go to big shrines or temples to pray for their health and prosperity on the first to the third day of new year (hatsumode). Unfortunately, we never had a chance to capture this moment directly because the location of the shrine or the temple is quite far from our home. Since Japanese families and relatives get together during the holiday season of new year, various kind of dishes are also served. But the most phenomenal new year's dishes are soba (buckwheat noodles) which symbolizes longevity, and mochi (rice cakes). Making and eating mochi are really popular during new year. Luckily, on the New Year's 2011, we were invited by my husband's hostparents to visit them in Moriya (around 30 minutes by train from our home). There was a mochi-making. We participated in pounding the mochi, and of course eating it at the end. :) Nice experience. For children (and adults too), there are special new year's games played, such as hanetsuki (Japanese badminton), koma (spinning tops), takoage (kite flying), and karuta (card game). Children get envelopes filled with varying amount of hard cash (otoshidama) too from their parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties, and other grown-up families.Another interesting thing is houses and entrance gates are decorated with ornaments made by bamboo, pine, and plum trees. The houses are cleaned thoroughly as well. What I'm describing here is only a part of a big interesting picture of life in Japan, especially during new year.

February: Kisaragi (如月) or 'the month of wearing extra layers of clothes'. 

In traditional term, February has been considered as the coldest month during winter season in Japan. For me, it's rather true. From two winter periods, I found that the lowest temperatures were occurred in February. It could reach minus 7. Snow fell more often too in this month. But on winter this year, Tokyo had a heavy snow in the end of January. It was said as the heaviest snow in the last 6 years of winter season in Japan. If it's true, then I have experienced two monumental events: the biggest earthquake and the heaviest snow. Unfortunately, too many casualties caused by these two events.

 March: Yayoi (弥生), "grow more and more".

7-tiered hina doll set

The meaning of this month is correlated with the character of spring season. Even though sometimes there's still a dusting of snow in the early of this month, the signs of spring happen everywhere. I do love spring time in Japan. Besides of the pleasant weather, the month is also a beautiful time of plum blossom. There's also a remarkable festival named Hina Matsuri (the Doll Festival) which is devoted to girls in the 3rd of March. On this special day, girls are celebrated with a set of beautiful ceremonial Japanese dolls in traditional costumes. These dolls are only for house decoration and not for playing with. Once, we went to Lalaport (a department store) in Kashiwa. We were quite surprised with the price of these Hina-dolls. The prices ranged from around 30,000 Yen to almost 200,000 Yen (US$ 300-2,000)!! And a day after the 3rd March, the dolls must be packed and put away! If the dolls are kept out too long, it is believed will ruin a daughter's chance to get married. Strange but interesting. :)

April: Uzuki (卯月) or the month of Deutzia.

O-hanami

Deutzias are species of plants with white flowers in common. I haven't found a clear explanation why the fourth month is named "blossoms of deutzia" in Japan. But as far as I remember, Deutzia or Unohana (卯の花) were indeed found everywhere during April, of course beside the phenomenal sakura. I personally like sakura better than unohana. ^^  Sakura is prettier, more colorful, and more interesting to be viewed. In Japan, a festival to view sakura (cherry blossoms) together with families, colleagues, and even friends during this month is called o-hanami. One interesting fact about sakura is mentioned by Setsu Broderick and Willamarie Moore in their book entitled Japanese Traditions: Rice Cakes, Cherry Blossoms, and Matsuri, A Year of Seasonal Japanese Festivities. The color and shape of Sakura flowers symbolize purity and simplicity, while their short-lived bloom reflects the shortness of life. FYI, sakura blooms for around 2 weeks only, before the petals fall and the leaves appear. For me, Hanami and other seasonal festivals in Japan indicate how people here put concern on preserving the balance of nature, something that we often forget due to our daily bustles.  

May: Satsuki（早月）or 'the month of rice planting'.

koinobori

In Japan, this month is characterized as the busiest month of rice planting for the farmers. Bamboo shoots are also sprung up everywhere in the bamboo grove. The sky during this month is usually very clear with very warm weather too. I didn't really notice the sense of this month, except for the Children's Day (子供の日) or also named with Tango Festival (Tango no sekku) or Iris Festival (Shoubu no sekku) which is held in 5th May. Children's Day was originally named Boys' Festival and dedicated for boys in corresponding to the Hina Matsuri or Girls' Festival. But in 1948, the name was changed into Children's Day and settled as National Holiday. Traditionally during this day, families with male children display samurai dolls (musha ningyou), fly carp streamers (koinobori) outside the house as a symbol of success, strength, and perseverance; and eat rice cakes wrapped in bamboo or oak leaves (chimaki and kashiwamochi). And why is it called with Iris Festival? Because one tradition of Children's Day also includes Iris leaves, which are used to decorate roofs so that evil spirits and diseases won't come into the house. I don't really know whether this tradition is still exist in nowadays Japanese families or not. But Koinobori are really hung up everywhere during this holiday, cheering up the blue sky with colorful scratches. 

June: Minazuki (水無月) or 'the month of no water'.
The meaning of this month is quiet contradictory with the real situation. June is actually the middle of rainy season (tsuyu) in Japan. So, why is it named "no water"? Existing explanations about this are overlapping and quite contradictory. But the most reasonable explanation for me refers to the problem of translation for 無 (na) character which nomally means "absent". But based on the origin of Japanese kanji, the character is a possesive particle, so to be brief, the kanji of minazuki means "the month of water". Hmm..still confused? Well, me either. :) Just ignore this stump description as we need a native to explain about this month clearly. :p

to be continued...