New Year Bond fires in Tokyo (1.1.09)

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New Year is the most important holiday time in Japan. People have one week off and spent time with the inner family circle. Forget about any fire crackers or parties. This is Western style, some clubs might do it; otherwise it is a quiet time with most shops closed starting in the afternoon. I never saw Shinjuku station so empty as on December 31st. Everybody was at home or with family.
My American friend Peter invited Yukie and me to spend the New Year eve in a very special way. He keeps since 7 years the habit to cycle with friends from temple to temple and to observe the life and people greeting the New Year. It is Japanese old tradition to visit the nearby temple or shrine after mid night to pray for prosperity and good fortune. This should be done before sun rise for the best result. Therefore this is also the only night in the year, the trains run all night.
We met at Peter’s friends place in Eastern Tokyo and celebrated the New Year with a bowl of special Soba (buckwheat) noodles and clinking of glasses with sparkling wine at mid night. The New Year bells could be heard in the back ground. Then we got on the bikes and headed for our first object - a small neighborhood temple around the corner hidden in an alley way. A volunteer community had blocked the road, lit coal and wood in drums and served hot mild rice wine to warm up. Temperatures were some few degrees plus and the fire and hot wine was very welcome. People lined up in front of the shrine and offered the gods coins. It was a relaxed and nice atmosphere of neighbors and families meeting and chatting. After one hour less people came and we headed to the next larger temple which was more likely to get bigger amount of New Year greeters. We were not disappointed when we found the place in a side lane. Somehow the trickle of people became a crowd and the temple was very busy. It had a huge bond fire at the entrance and several stalls handing out the hot rice wine and selling snacks. We watched and enjoyed the time at the fire. Some people had hamayas (wood arrows) stuck in their back to ward of misfortune and to attract luck. We rode to the third and most famous regional temple as less people showed up. This time it reminded me more on a busy weekend market with many stalls selling all kind of food and traffic blocking the roads. No more the cozy neighborhood feeling with free rice wine. It was 5 am when we decided to head back to our apartment. We arrived just when the sun came up and felt in a deep New Year sleep. Later we learned from Peter, that he observed on his way home a huge line of hundreds of people lining up to get up Tokyo tower. The first sight of the sun is also considered to bring luck and good fortune. Where did you see the first sun rays ?

It was one of our nicest New Years and Yuki and I talk often about it. First you think it is crazy to ride bike all night long into the morning and “just” to visit temples, but the atmosphere is unique with the quiet roads, the fires and people lining up with happy faces to throw the coins. We liked most the small hidden neighborhood temples and would do it any time again!

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