Commonly used Japanese words in January

How to use

Japanese language　how to read
Meaning and explanation

greetings

①あけましておめでとう（ございます）　akemasite omedetou（gozaimasu）
Happy New Year

②あけおめ　akeome
Shortened slang for "Happy New Year". Not to be used in public.

③ことしもよろしく（おねがいします） kotosimo yorosiku（onegaisimasu）
Good luck this year.　Used as a set with ①

④ことよろ kotoyoro
Shortened slang for "Good luck this year". Not to be used in public.

Events

①しょうがつ　syougatu
New Year's Day. January 1st to around the 3rd.

②さんがにち　sanganiti
January 1st to the 3rd. During this period, work is often closed.

③はつひので　hatuhinode
First sunrise (of New Year). The sun is sometimes called "gorai kou," meaning "sunrise," in reference to the sun as a god.

④はつもうで　hatumoude
first shrine visit of New Year. 

⑤はつうり　hatuuri
New Year's sales. Japanese people often buy "fukubukuro" here.

⑥はつ～　hatu～
Hatsu" means "first time." I say it with a "hatsu" to emphasize that I did it for the first time at the beginning of the year.

⑦かきぞめ　kakizome
One of Japan's annual events. To write words or draw pictures with a brush in the New Year. An event held on January 2nd. 

⑧ししまい　sisimai
The word "sisi" means "lioness" and "mai" means "dance. It is said that if you are bitten on the head by this lion, you will become smarter.


the New Year's games

①ふくわらい hukuwarai
This is a game in which you blindfold an outline that does not have eyes, nose, mouth, or other parts and fit the parts together.


②こままわし komamawasi
Koma" means spinning a top and "mawashi" means to turn. A game of spinning a top. 
Kyushu National Museum Collection

③たこあげ takoage
Tako" means a kite and "Age" means to lift up into the sky.
A game of flying a kite in the sky.



④すごろく sugoroku
A kind of board game. The first player to reach the goal wins by rolling the dice and advancing the pieces as many times as they appear.
Tokyo National Museum Collection

⑤かるた　karuta
A kind of card game. There are cards with 46 hiragana characters each, and cards with pictures. In this game, the reader reads the words on the hiragana character cards, and the players take the picture cards that mean the words.
Tokyo National Museum Collection

⑥はねつき　hanetuki
Japanese badminton. A game played with a wooden board called a hagoita, on which wooden seeds with feathers attached are struck.
Tokyo National Museum Collection

Item

①ねんがじょう　nengajou
New Year's card. A letter to those who helped me last year, thanking them and asking them to be good friends this year.


②おとしだま　otosidama
New Year's gift (usu. money given to a child by relatives and visitors). An adult gives money to a child in a paper envelope called a "pochi-bukuro.


③かどまつ　kadomatu
A kind of New Year decoration. New Year's decorations in front of the house. Made of pine or bamboo. Used to welcome the god of the year.

④ふくぶくろ　hukubukuro
These are sold at "Hatsuuri" on New Year's Day. They are sold as an assortment of various products.


⑤かがみもち　kagamimoti
A New Year's decoration in which rice cakes are offered to the gods and Buddha. 

food

①おせちりょうり　osetiryouri
A special dish eaten on New Year's Day. It was originally an offering to the god of the year. A stacked box filled with many lucky charms.


②おぞうに　ozouni
A kind of soup made with rice cakes. The taste and method of preparation differs from household to household.


③あまざけ　amazake
kind of alcohol. However, since the alcohol content is less than 1%, it is treated as a soft drink. Therefore, children can also drink it. The ingredients used are rice malt and rice or sake lees.

Enjoy your ministry in Japan!


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