The kadomatsu decorates home and business entrances beginning a few days before the year’s end.
The shimekazari is another common sight in this season at homes, shops, and Shintō shrines.
Bowls of soba (or udon farther to the west) have been a standard meal for ringing out the old for some two centuries.
At some temples, like Kyoto’s Chion’in (pictured here), monks handle the bell-ringing; at many smaller temples, visitors on New Year’s Eve get to sound out the year themselves.
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