{"id":11214,"date":"2022-12-04T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/?p=11214"},"modified":"2024-05-13T15:05:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T06:05:57","slug":"shiwasu-the-busiest-month-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/shiwasu-the-busiest-month-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"“Shiwasu” – the busiest month of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shiwasu \u5e2b\u8d70<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In Japan, each month has its older Japanese name, and December is called \u201cShiwasu (\u5e2b\u8d70).\u201d The old names of the month are not used nowadays but \u201cshiwasu\u201d is still being used and you can hear people using the word in daily life. The word \u201cshiwasu\u201d expresses how busy people are around this time of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Meaning of the kanji \u5e2b\u8d70<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The first character \u5e2b means \u201cmaster\u201d or \u201cmonk\u201d and the second character \u8d70 means \u201cto run.\u201d There are several theories explaining the origins of the word but the most common theory is that because the month of December is so busy, even monks who are usually calm have to run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What do people do in shiwasu?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Because December is the last month of the year, there are several traditional activities to prepare for the new year. Here are some of the activities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u4e8b\u59cb\u3081\uff08kotohajime\uff09starting the preparation for the New Year<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It is usually said to be on December 13th<\/sup> and people start to prepare for New Year. People can put out New Years\u2019 decorations from this day. On this day in temples, they clean in order to welcome the divine spirits of the gods in the new year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u304a\u6b73\u66ae (oseibo) year-end gifts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It is customary to give gifts to those who are always indebted at the end of the year with a feeling of gratitude. Generally, people send oseibo to relatives and the boss. There is a specific time to give these gifts and it depends on the region, so here is the theory of the specific time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Hokkaido, Hokuriku, Kyushu, Okinawa: December 13th to December 20th
\u25cf Tohoku, Tokai: December 13th to 25th
\u25cf Kanto: Early December-31st December
\u25cf Tokai, Chugoku, Shikoku: December 13th to 25th
\u25cf Kansai: December 13th-December 31st<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u5e74\u8cc0\u72b6\uff08nengajyo\uff09New Year\u2019s Card<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

People write and send out New Year\u2019s Cards, usually with the next year\u2019s Chinese zodiac animal on it, to their relatives, friends, and colleagues. One should avoid sending New Year\u2019s Card to people who have lost a family in the past year. In recent years, people send New Year\u2019s Cards using apps on their smartphones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

There are many other traditions that are done in December, which makes this month busy. But it will bring pleasant feelings and people will be able to welcome the gods which will bring in good luck in the new year.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Japan, each month has its older Japanese name, and December is called \u201cShiwasu (\u5e2b\u8d70).\u201d The word \u201cshiwasu\u201d expresses how busy people are around this time of the year.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[333,335],"tags":[85,28,24],"class_list":["post-11214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japanese-culture","category-life-in-japan","tag-japan","tag-japanese-culture","tag-learn-japanese"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11214"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11221,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11214\/revisions\/11221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}