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The wide variety of annual events in Japan can be attributed to the unique history that Japanese have absorbed Pan-Asian and western cultures for centuries and re-interpreted their own. This book illustrates the colorful aspects and the origins of annual events.
Many of the annual events in Japan have their origin in ancient philosophies or Buddhism via China, India and the other parts of Asia. Absorbing foreign traditions hungrily in the course of history, Japanese developed unique court and popular cultures, religions, and way of life. Four chapters cover each season and give us numbers of customary, religious and indigenous events and things that ordinary Japanese take part in.
First Chapter, Spring is the time of family reunions. Shogatsu, meaning January, is a deity to whom people pray for their families' well-being and good luck. The second chapter introduces how Japanese spent summer comfortably, "avoiding heat with a cool mind. Furin (wind-bells) let us know winds blew. Hanabi (fireworks) and other festivals walk us to the evening breeze. Autumn, the third chapter, is the harvest-time of the year and the markets are full of seasonal foods. The Forth chapter, Shiwasu is a Japanese name for December, implying people's busyness at this time of the year. New Year's Eve, like Thanksgiving, is devoted to remind us of our indebtedness to others and to express our appreciation and mutual wishes for well-being. Christmas Eve, Valentine's Day and Mother's day are equally popular events for Japanese nowadays. In addition, This book covers the Japanese lifetime events - birth, school, starting a job, marriage - and we live these phases as if we are advancing though a passage of four seasons.
This is a beautifully illustrated, Introductory and comprehensive book for everybody who wants to learn about the yearly scenes and history of Japanese annual events.

Category Level

Reference
Customs & Traditions

Editorial Review

Living in Japan at the beginning of the 21st century is perhaps witnessing the dwindling of a unique, graceful culture of the Far East... A pessimism of this kind may end up in somewhere between a nostalgic literary prose and a didactic plea. But this re-introduction of Japanese annual events is surprisingly concrete and entertaining. One is impressed even with its underlying great optimism to advertise our ways of life ancient & modern to a confused, disintegrated global society at large. The most recommendable feature of this book is that it is written as if you are introduced to a life cycle of the Japanese that corresponds with the cyclical movement of the four seasons: the whole represents a part and vice versa. I believe this structure of "micro-and-macro-identification" may be very common among different cultures on the earth.

Submitted by Akiko Touno

Table of contents

• Preface: A Wonderful Culture of "Harmony"
  Chapter 1 Seasonal Events: Spring - The Beginning
  Chapter 2 Seasonal Events: Summer - The Coolness
  Chapter 3 Seasonal Events: Autumn - The Harvest
  Chapter 4 Seasonal Events: Winter - Thanks for a peaceful year
  Chapter 5 The Events of a Lifetime

About the Author

In 1683, Mitsukoshi instituted the innovative "fixed price" retail method scheme with the slogan of "payment in cash with no negotiation." It had been the custom
of the time for customers to negotiate prices with shop assistants. Nowadays we expect nothing less than to pay the price shown on price tags, but it was Mitsukoshi who initiated this retail practice for the first time in the world. At that time the clientele for drapery (fabrics) was limited, but Mitsukoshi made drapery available to the general public through lower, fixed prices. Since its founding, Mitsukoshi has continuously introduced innovative services and products to help enrich customers' lives.

In 1673, Takatoshi Mitsui opened Echigo-ya (the precursor of Mitsukoshi) in Tokyo. Echigo-ya was reorganized as Mitsui Drapery Store in 1893. In 1904, the joint stock company Mitsukoshi Drapery Store was founded. Mitsukoshi issued a "department store proclamation," becoming the first department store in Japan. In 1914 the New Renaissance Hall was added to Nihonbashi Main Branch, with its famous lion statue out front and the first escalator in Japan. In 1928, Mitsukoshi Drapery Store was renamed Mitsukoshi. In 2003, Mitsukoshi, Mitsukoshi Nagoya, Mitsukoshi Chiba, Mitsukoshi Kagoshima, and Mitsukoshi Fukuoka were merged into Mitsukoshi, Inc.