Traditional Japanese New Year Decorations

While the holiday season is packed with traditional western style christmas decorations you ll also find some unique traditional japanese new year decorations as well.
Traditional japanese new year decorations. One of the most typical new year s ornaments that you can found in any store or supermarket with different designs and sizes is the kagamimochi 鏡餅. It is composed of bamboo stalks cut diagonally at different lengths pine branches and a base made of straw. Around early december supermarkets start stacking up kagami mochi there s that pesky deadly mochi again in front of the shopping aisles.
This decoration is placed by the door to make the home a sacred place worthy of the gods visit. First at the gate of the house or at the door if they don t have a gate you see a pair of bamboo pine leaves ornaments. They are derived from the shinto belief that the divine spirits reside in trees.
Mochi a type of chewy rice cake is a classic japanese new year s food. Traditionally it was made with two mochis rice paste rounded stacked one on top of the other and above all a tangerine or japanese bitter orange called daidai 橙. During shougatsu japanese houses are decorated with new year ornaments.
These little round cakes are even used in certain new year s decorations such as the kagami mochi. It does not mean you have to visit temple or shrine only on january 1st but also 2nd and january 3rd. Kadomatsu a traditional new year s decoration is placed in front of the entrances to welcome the spirits of good fortune.
By having the gods visit the family is said to receive the power and blessing for the new year. Kadomatsu are traditional new year decorations made of pine and or bamboo sprigs placed in pairs representing male and female in front of homes to welcome the shinto gods. A very traditional new year s activity is preparing the mochi yourself on new year s day.
A kadomatsu 門松 gate pine is a traditional japanese decoration as yorishiro of the new year placed in pairs in front of homes to welcome ancestral spirits or kami of the harvest. It is a tradition to visit them in order to pray for having a good year health and families happiness. The word hatsumode refers to visit the first shrine or temple of the japanese new year.