Hatsumode

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Hatsumōde at Yūten-ji ( 祐 天 寺 ) in Meguro -ku (Tōkyō), January 1, 2007
Hatsumōde at the Yuzuhara Shrine ( 弓弦 羽 神社 ) in Higashinada-ku (Kobe) , January 2, 2007

Hatsumōde ( Japanese 初 詣 ) or Hatsumairi ( 初 参 り ) is a Japanese custom to visit a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine on the Japanese New Year (usually on the first day of the new year and usually with family or friends) . On this occasion, people usually pray for divine protection and personal happiness for the new year, donate money (usually only small sums) to the respective shrine and often buy new O-Mamori (talismans).

The number of participants has increased continuously over the past decades; In 1979 it was 56%, in 1994 already 62% of the population. Today about three quarters of all Japanese take part in the Hatsumōde. Temples and shrines have the highest number of visitors of the year during this time, with particularly popular shrines (including Meiji shrine , Narita-san Shinshō-ji , Heiken-ji , Fushimi Inari-Taisha , Atsuta-jingū , Sumiyoshi-Taisha , Sensō-ji and Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū ) these are several million.

The origins of the Hatsumōde, which only became a regular custom in the Meiji period and spread across the country, are unclear, but it is assumed that its present-day form is primarily a result of the mixing of older Onmyōdō customs, such as Toshigomori ( 年 籠 ) and des Ehōmairi ( 恵 方 参 or 恵 方 詣 り ) or Ehōmōde ( 恵 方 詣 ). In Toshigomori, the believer withdraws from the last night of the old year to the new day in the shrine of his guardian deity ( ujigami ) and remains awake there all the time in the presence of the deity. Ehōmairi is the practice of making a pilgrimage to a shrine or temple in a fortunate direction ( ehō ) to meet the fortunate gods of the New Year, the Toshigami ( 歳 神 or 年 神 ) or Toshitokujin ( 歳 徳 神 or 年 徳 神) ), and to avoid the curse-bringing gods, the Tatarigami ( 祟 り 神 ).

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