Ça s’appelle un Kumade ([koumadé] si je ne m’abuse, c’est tout bêtement le mot japonais pour « râteau ») et c’est un des multiples objets que l’on se procure pour le Nouvel An comme porte-bonheur ou…

New Year or Oshōgatsu is the most important holiday of the year for the Japanese, and is a far cry from the parties and public displays of drunkenness that often define the countdown to the New Year for many around the world. Here is what you need to know about Japanese New Year customs and traditions.

One of the beautiful traditions of New Year’s in Japan is the gifting of hagoita (羽子板), ornamented flat wooden bats originally made for playing a game very similar to badminton. Back in the o…

If a kadomatsu or a shimekazari are difficult to make at home and you still need to go to a flowershop for pine twigs and bamboo, a kagamimochi can be...

30th Dec

It is a Japanese New Year custom to display, on the house entry door or on the porch, a special knitted rope made from rice straws called shimekezari....

千曲川河川敷に組み上げられたどんど焼きの櫓 数時間後には焼かれます。