2020-03-20

hatsuka day 20 legends

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. Japanese legends and tales 伝説 民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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hatsuka 二十日 と伝説 Legends about day 20 of a month

. hatsuka iwai 二十日祝い celebrating on January 20 .



January 20 is a special "New Years Day" (hatsuka shogatsu 二十日正月) in Japan.
The Samurai class took this as a special ritual and prepared special food for this day. The ladies of the house where allowed for the first time now to take the cover off the mirror and look at their faces. They also could eat the rice cakes that had been put as offerings before the mirror boxes (kyoodai 鏡台).

Officially this was the last day of New Years celebrations, where folks would cook rice with red soy beans (sekihan 赤飯) and eat the last New Year cakes to celebrate.

In the area of Kyoto and Osaka, the leftover bones of yellowtail (buri) offered during the New Year celebrations were cooked and eaten (New Year bones, hone shoogatsu 骨正月).

It was also the day when the God of Good Luck, Ebisu, had his first festival.

. hatsuka Ebisu 二十日戎 (はつかえびす) Ebisu on January 20 .
hatsuka Ebisu matsuri 二十日戎祭 Ebisu Ceremonies in Edo and the Kanto area


Asakusa Hatsuka Ebisu 浅草廿日戎 Festival in Asakusa


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hate no hatsuka 果ての二十日 the final day 20
An evil day, to avoid angering the Yamanokami山の神 Kami of the Mountains, people should not enter a mountain.
..... the 20th day of the 12th lunar month, the day when all Oni become free,
. Inozasa-O 猪笹王 Wild Boar became an Oni Demon .


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. Basho visiting Okamoto Taiso 岡本苔蘇 - .

During his stay at the Gourd Bamboo Hermitage, 松尾芭蕉 Matsuo Basho wrote the following hokku:



花を宿に始め終りや二十日ほど
hana no yado ni hajime owari ya hatsuka hodo

at this lodging with cherry blossoms
from beginning to end -
about twenty days


Basho enjoyed his time there just as long as the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.
Written in the spring of 1688 元禄元年春.


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hatsuka nezumi 二十日鼠 / 廿日鼠 / ハツカネズミ house mouse, white moues
family Mus
Its gestation period is roughly 20 days.




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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :

Many legends and customs about day 20 are related to Yamanokami:
On these days there are various taboos for the farmers and forest workers.

. Yamanokami Legends from Ehime 愛媛県 .

. Yamanokmai Legends from Hiroshima 広島県 .

. Yamanokami Legends from Mie 三重県 .

. Yamanokami Legends from Saga 佐賀県 .

. Yamanokami and Tengu Legends from Toyama 富山県 .

. Yamanokami Legends from Yamaguchi 山口県 .


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There are various regional Ebisuko ceremony and festival groups on this day

. Ebisu-koo, Ebisukoo 恵比寿講 / 夷講 / エビス講 Ebisu Ko .



......................................................................................... Gunma 群馬県
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甘楽郡 Kanra district

O-Ebisu san オエビスサン / オエベツ さん Ebetsu san is venerated in the ceremony groups on
January and November 20.
Ebisu is a wealthy person who gets out to work early in the morning on day 20 of January and comes back late at night on Day 20 in November.
The morning of January 20 is called asa Ebisu 朝エビス Ebisu in the morning.
People prepare special food to see him off.
The evening of November 20 is called yuu Ebisu 夕エビス Ebisu in the evening.



......................................................................................... Nara 奈良県
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春日町 Kasuga town

kaii 怪異 something weird
In the year 1791, on day 20 in August, the official day of audiences with the regent, there was a huge storm and rain.
The shinboku 神木 sacred tree of the Shrine 春日大社 Kasuga Taisha and the tooroo 燈篭 stone lantern in the park fell down.




......................................................................................... Saga 佐賀県
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鎮西町 Chinzei town

おちょす様 O-Chosu sama
At the wayside there was sacred a rock named O-Chosu sama and people venerated 藁葺き屋根の木 a tree where the bark was used for roof tiles.
On day 20 of the New Year, children used the rock as target for shooting arrows.
Once the villagers wanted to remove the rock, but that would bring bad luck.




......................................................................................... Shimane 島根県

If people prepare chikara mochi 力餅 rice cakes to bring strenth, on day 20 of the New Year, they will all become strong in the coming year.

. chikara mochi 力餅 Mochi to bring strength .




......................................................................................... Tokushima 徳島県

The last day 20 of the year in December in the local dialect is called
hatsuru hatsuka 果つる二十日
On this day many bad things can happen and people refrain from going very far, doing a great house-cleaning, having a wedding ceremony or do sentaku 洗濯 a lot of washing.

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Tokushima 阿南市 Anan city

hate no hatsuka 果ての二十日 the last day 20 of the year
A large man of almost 2 meters lived in the village. He was very stubborn and did not listen to the warnings of his family.
On the last day 20 of the year he went to the mountain to split rocks for a wall. On his way back he met a horse carriage with barrels of 生石灰 lime stones.
A voice ordered him "Climb up on this carriage!", so he climbed up on a board and when he was on the barrels with the stones, he wanted to let the board down. One of the barrels fell into the pond. Then one of the barrels fell on him and eventually he burned to death.




......................................................................................... Toyama 富山県



On day 20 of January Ebisu Sama goes to 北海道 Hokkaido to work.
On 十一月二十日 day 20th of Novewmber, Ebisu Sama comes back from 北海道 Hokkaido and brings money.




......................................................................................... Yamagata 山形県
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西村山郡 Nishi-Murayama district

sakenosuke サケノスケ the Salmon named Sakenosuke
On Day 20 of the 10th lunar month during the hatsuka Ebisu 二十日講 Ebisu rituals, the fish comes upriver calling out
「サケノスケ今通る」 Sakenosuke is now passing !
and hitting a cutting board with a kitchen knife.
Anybody who hears his voice will die soon.

. sake no oosuke 鮭の大助 the salmon called Osuke .




......................................................................................... Yamanashi 山梨県
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都留市 Tsuru city

On Day 20 of January Ebisu san goes out to work and make money. The family sees him off with an auspicious meal of sekihan 赤飯 red rice.
If they forget to prepare the rice, the family will not make much money in the coming year.

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- reference : nichibun yokai database 妖怪データベース -

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. Kaido highway legends 街道と伝説 - - ABC list .

. animals and their legends 動物と伝説 - - ABC list .

. plants and their legends  植物と伝説 - - ABC list .

. trees and their legends  樹木, 木と伝説 - - ABC list .

. Persons, People, Personen and their legends - - ABC list .

. Legends about Kobo Daishi Kukai - 弘法大師 空海 - 伝説 .

. Japanese legends and tales 伝説 民話 昔話 - Introduction .

- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -

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