Traditional Japanese New Year Foods

Celebrate the new year in style with our best japanese new year food recipes featuring traditional osechi ryori おせち料理 and modern dishes.
Traditional japanese new year foods. Japanese new year shogatsu or oshogatsu is the most important holiday in japan it s centered around food family preparing for the new year and leaving the prior year in the past. The welcoming of the new year in japan involves deep cleansing resolute silence symbolic food and the welcoming of the gods. This is the perfect time to clean the light fixtures furniture.
Every dish of these traditional foods has special meaning in welcoming the new year. Since 1873 the official japanese new year has been celebrated according to the gregorian calendar on january 1 of each year new year s day 元日 ganjitsu however some traditional events of the japanese new year are partially celebrated on the first day of the year on the modern tenpō calendar the. Learn about japanese new year celebration jan 01 2018 by nami.
Here is a list of these new year dishes. Japanese new year or oshogatsu is one of the biggest holidays in japanese culture and is celebrated on the first day of the new year on january 1st. Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of japan which have developed through centuries of political economic and social changes the traditional cuisine of japan washoku lit japanese eating or kappō is based on rice with miso soup and other dishes.
A traditional local new year s food known as osechi ryori is commonly consumed on new year s day which is referred to in japanese as ganjitsu. A few days before the year ends major house cleaning happens in every household. It s incredibly important to clean pay bills tie up any loose ends and prepare the traditional good luck food in advance of the celebration which lasts from january 1 3.
Oosouji the big clean up. Toshikoshi soba is traditionally eaten the night before new year s on new year s eve. Nowadays many people buy ready made osechi dishes at stores instead of cooking them at home.
The new tradition. The japanese new year 正月 shōgatsu is an annual festival with its own customs. As the new year symbolizes a new beginning osechi ryori consists of food with auspicious meanings.