Hatsumoude(First shrine visit of New Year) and Omikuji

Good morning! We are now getting more used to our new routine. After we finish our morning jobs, we started our day with snack time. The other table was for making a tiger mask which we started yesterday. At the back of our classroom, we had the easel painting. It was very interesting so we asked Kai if we could have our turn. 

We never get tired of playing in the house. There was another big carton that Kai used to separate the painting area and the playing area. It’s always fun to use our creativity and we saw M, K, L, and H really enjoy thinking of different ways they can play with it. Pauline observed what they were doing and how they used it. She took their photos because she would like to document the experience.

Circle time was all about introducing Japanese New Year activities that were Hatsumoude and Omikuji by Sayaka. Hatsumoude is the first visit to a shrine or temple with the family for the New Year. People go and pray for good luck for new year. Sayaka was wondering if we know or we have heard about it.

Sayaka-Have you heard of hatsumode? You ring the bell and you throw the coins in. We can say konnichiwa, happy year onegaishimasu to kamisama.

H- (Nodded her head) To Jinja with baba. Mita Kamisama(I saw the god). It's not moving. 

Sayaka-What color is Kamisama?

H- Black. 

Sayaka-Did you get the paper? Omikuji paper?

H-No paper. 

Sayaka-In Hiroshima?

H-No, Tokyo. And, we go pool. Big pool.

K- My mommy and daddy go Saporro picnic. 

Sayaka-How about to the shrine or jinja?

K- Yes. 

Sayaka-Did you throw coins?

K- *Nods yes*

Then Sayaka showed the little box and it was an omikuji box that she made. “Do you know what omikuji is?” She asked us. “Omikuji is a sheet of paper with the result of the new year’s fortune written on it”, Sayaka told us. When you go to the shrine, you might see people tying up something to a branch of the tree- that’s Omikuji, and it’s something that is very popular to do. Do you know why? Because it is “tasting” the luck of the year and the paper gives you advice on how you improve your life in the new year. When you see the details, it says luck in money, health, romance, relationships, business, study, and so on. The result will be, Daikichi (great blessing), Chukichi (Middle blessing). Syoukichi (Small blessing), hankichi (Half blessing), Suekichi(Blesssing to come), Suecyoukichi(Small blessing to come), Kichi (Blessing). Kyo(Curse), Suekyo(Curse to come), Hankyou(Half curse), Syokyo(Small curse), Daikyo(Big curse) 

The omikuji Sayaka made had three sticks. They had numbers and stars. Sayaka asked us which number can be very lucky. Then Hiori pointed out to number three. So we decided that 3 is super lucky, 2 is lucky, and 1 is a little bit lucky. Sayaka suggested that we will actually visit the shrine as hatsumoude and do the real omikuji. If we would have time, we can even go to Amishiro park, she added. H, L, and K tried “Handmadeomikuji” and H got 2 stars, L had 3 stars, and K had 1 star. 

After we finished, we headed to Jyuban inari (Jyuban shrine). We did hatsumoude quietly and respectfully. It’s time for omikuji! There was the red omikuji box. We put 100 yen and the paper came out. We are excited for the result…it was daikichi (great blessing)! Yaaaay! Then Pauline and Kai also got a taste of their fortune for this year. It was an interesting experience for us. As we got Daikichi, we had enough time to play at Amishiro park. Lucky us! When we got back to school, we realized that we had an hour of outside time and we were very hungry. It was a wonderful day and we hope you all had a wonderful day, too!

P.S., Before we started our circle time, our teachers had to tell us about how to take care of our things in the classroom. It was not the first time that they had to tell us about the importance of taking care of things. We will remember and make sure that we will take good care of our things!

+Love,

All the happy lucky bunnies in Petals Class