Shiwasu: Sweeping Away the Year’s Soot and Other Traditional Annual Events in December

Cleaning Frenzy

In a custom similar to spring cleaning, Japan has long conducted susuharai (literally “sweeping away the soot”). Now commonly observed on December 13, in the past it marked the start of the countdown to New Year and was a time for households to begin the process of cleaning away the accumulated dust and detritus of the bygone year in preparation for the new one to come.

Today susuharai is observed at places like Buddhist temples and Shintō shrines, but during the Edo period (1603–1868) it was largely a domestic affair carried out at samurai estates as well as the humbler abodes of commoners and merchants. According to Tōto saijiki (Annual Record of the Eastern Capital), a mid-nineteenth-century work recording different seasonal events in Edo, the thirteenth became the established date for susuharai in 1640, which was customarily when seasonal cleaning at Edo Castle took place.

In the days when candles and lanterns served to light homes and cooking was done on wood- and charcoal-fired hearths, it was necessary to remove the subsequent accumulation of soot and ash. The cleaning process began with the removal of tatami mats, which were beaten and aired. This was followed by a thorough wiping and sweeping of every nook and cranny of residences. The process was physically demanding but served to purify homes for the arrival of the toshigami, or deities of the New Year.

Far from drudgery, records show that susuharai were lively events, with those involved being treated to the likes of rice cakes and sake. When the work was done, groups were known to perform dōage in which members were tossed in the air in celebration, demonstrating the spirited atmosphere shared by all in anticipation of the New Year.

Workers busily clean a home in an illustration from a work depicting different seasonal events in Edo. (Courtesy National Archives of Japan)

A group of cleaners (left) perform dōage at the completion of their chores in a print by Utagawa Kunisada (courtesy Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library Special Collection Room); a scene from an illustrated book of customs and manners by Kikuchi Kiichirō showing workers stripping a house nearly bare to get at all the dust and soot (courtesy National Diet Library).

New Year Fairs

End-of-year cleaning is typically followed by the hanging of New Year decorations. Traditionally, year-end fairs called toshi no ichi opened for business from the fourteenth day and offered decorative items like shimenawa (sacred rope) and kadomatsu (gateway pines), along with shrimp, lobsters, and other bounties from the sea that had auspicious meanings. The first market took place at the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine in the Fukagawa district of the capital, but it was not long before other fairs sprang up.

The largest toshi no ichi was held at the temple Sensōji in Asakusa and is said to have drawn such crowds that the press of people spilled into the surrounding neighborhoods of Komagata, Shitaya, and Ueno. To accommodate the throng, the temple during the fair kept its gates open throughout the night, until 4:00 am, instead of closing them at the customary 6:00 pm. Toshi no ichi remains a fixture at Sensōji and is now held every December 17 to 19.

People mill among the stalls during Sensōji’s toshi no ichi in a print by Utagawa Hiroshige. (Courtesy National Diet Library)

Season of Rice Cakes

Pounding rice cakes, or mochitsuki, was an important event heading into the New Year. Households typically made their own mochi starting around the fifteenth of the month. The samurai class and large shops often outsourced the task of mochitsuki to tobi (steeplejacks), whose lively shouts and calls made for an entertaining scene. In a spectacle called hikizuri-mochi, groups of tobi made the rounds through neighborhoods lugging wooden mallets and heavy mortars used for pounding mochi. They offered their services at the homes they passed until the last day of the year.

A print by Utagawa Kunisada depicting mochitsuki at a household. A person who is presumably a tobi pounds the freshly cooked rice with a mallet while others prepare the mochi. (Courtesy National Diet Library)

Households could also buy mochi from confection makers during the end-of-year season in a service called chinmochi. The rice cakes were generally considered superior to those of the tobi, reflecting a popular proverb still used today, “For rice cakes, go to the mochi shop,” meaning that a specialist offers the best results.

Bean Throwing

The custom of setsubun that today is observed on the second or third of February was historically conducted four times in the year in order to dispel maleficent forces from homes ahead of each new season. The last day of the year, ōmisoka, was an especially important division of the calendar, and roasted soybeans (fukumame) were scattered to exorcise malevolent spirits.

Setsubun had been observed in Japan by members of the aristocratic and warrior classes since ancient times, but records suggest that aspects like mame-maki, or “bean-throwing,” first took root among the general populace sometime in the mid- to late fourteenth century.

In mame-maki, beans are scattered around the home to the chants of “Out with ogres and in with good luck.” The custom evolved from ancient rites of exorcism practiced on the last day of the year. The first account of these comes from the eighth-century text Shoku Nihongi, which describes such ceremonies at the imperial court in 706. According to one theory, the fukumame tradition arose from the homophonic relationship between the Japanese word for bean, mame, and mame o utsu, meaning to “eradicate evil.” The practice was hugely popular in the Edo period, as illustrated by the extensive catalogue of prints depicting mame-maki.

At left, individuals wear formal overvests (kamishimo) during mame-maki in an illustration by Kikuchi Kiichirō; at right, the legendary character Sakata no Kintoki pelts the powerful ogre Shuten-dōji with beans in a work from Hokusai manga by ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai. (Both images courtesy National Diet Library)

Fox Parade

Ōmisoka features a host of other traditions, including eating toshikoshi soba and joya no kane, the ringing of Buddhist temple bells to represents the cleansing of the 108 worldly passions. While many customs from Edo have disappeared, the Ōji neighborhood has managed to revive its connection to kitsune-bi (foxfire).

The gates of the Ōji Inari Shrine once looked onto sprawling fields and rice paddies, where grew a large enoki, or hackberry tree. Legend has it that late on ōmisoka, all the foxes in the region would gather under the branches before forming a procession to pay their respects at the shrine, with the fires from their lanterns flickering in the black of the night.

Foxes gather to visit Ōji Inari Shrine on the last night of the year in a print from Utagawa Hiroshige’s One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. (Courtesy National Diet Library)

Foxes were revered in Japan’s traditional agrarian society for keeping mice and other pests in check, and in time became associated with worship of Inari, the deity of rice and commerce. Statues of foxes called komagitsune watch over the entrance to Inari shrines, and the mystic animals were credited with foxfire (kitsune-bi), a natural phenomenon thought to be caused by bioluminescent properties of certain fungi. As an illustration of Japan’s abundance of folk beliefs, the lights were believed to foretell the fortunes of the coming year.

In 1929, the Ōji Inari Shrine’s hackberry tree was chopped down to make way for railroad expansion, with only a small monument being set up to commemorate where it once stood. However, locals feared reprisal from disgruntled foxes and eventually planted a new tree. In 1993, several residents staged a procession around the central shopping street on New Year’s Eve to keep the folktale of the foxes alive. The Ōji Fox Parade has since grown in size, drawing hordes of spectators to the neighborhood at midnight every December 31. The event features participants of all ages wearing fox masks and makeup, who wind their way to the Inari shrine to the sounds of lively hayashi festival music.

Revelers in fox masks and makeup during the Ōji Fox Parade on December 31, 2017. (© AFP/Jiji)

These and other annual events enable Japan’s customs and traditions to be passed from one generation to the next, ensuring that the beliefs and history that they represent and the emotions that they stir remain a part of Japanese culture.

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: At left, workers sweep away soot in a work by Kitagawa Utamaro [© Colbase]; at center, a woman makes rice cakes in a print by Utagawa Toyokuni III [courtesy Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library Special Collection Room]; at right, Sensōji’s toshi no ichi appears in a series by Utagawa Hiroshige II and Utagawa Toyokuni III [courtesy National Diet Library].)