年の瀬

By Lisa Vogt

　2012年もまもなく終わり。先生も走り回る師走には、やることが山積みです。お歳暮を贈って年賀状を準備し、おせち料理を作ったり大掃除をしたり…。日本の年の瀬の様子を見て、リサさんはどんなことを感じているのでしょうか。

　The New Year won't come unless I get the house spick and span!" my friend says to me as she wipes off the top of her refrigerator. She's been cleaning all day, and in the bucket at her feet are all sorts of cleaning supplies. As usual about this time of year, she's in her year-end osoji (cleaning) mode.

　I smile and assure her that the New Year will indeed roll around even if she misses a few spots. She frowns and tells me that "I don't get it" and that the place has to be immaculate. What can I say to that but to grab a rag and help out? I start to work on scrubbing the inner walls of her oven.

　In my country we do "spring cleaning" instead of year-end cleaning. With the winter chill gone and more sunlight after a dark winter, we open all the windows, clean the soot-stained fireplace, throw out the unneeded things we accumulated over the winter, and we do our osoji in warm weather.

　December is a busy month for Japanese where even shi (teacher monk) has to hashiru (run all over). In addition to extensive cleaning, people must prepare end-of-year gifts, write customary New Year greeting cards, attend forget-the-year gatherings, have New Year's decorations and foods ready, and many people must make travel plans. Whew!

　The young and young-at-heart will often be out and about with friends on omisoka (Dec. 31) but most Japanese like to spend a quiet New Year's Eve with family at home (especially after all the frantic work building up to the coming New Year).

　Every year I watch NHK's Red and White Singing Contest while eat-ing passing-the-year noodles. Outside, the temple bells toll in the distance. I usually walk to a local temple and wait in line to strike the bell. At my local temple they always serve complimentary hot amazake to people in line waiting their turn. Such service!

　You've heard that the bell is tolled 108 times because we are said to have 108 worldly desires that should be purified, right? Well, I recently learned that that maybe there's more.

　This sounds like the numbers 4, 9 and 8, 9. The first two numbers multiplied (4x9) is 36. The second two numbers multiplied (8x9) is 72. Add these two numbers (36+72) and you get 108. In Buddhism, shi ku refers to the 4 physical sufferings of humankind. Add to this 4 emotional sufferings and you will get 8, hakku. The bells are tolled 108 times to release these physical and emotional sufferings.

　Another explanation is that in the old lunar calendar system that the Japanese used to follow, there are 24 sekki and 72 kou. Sekki are seasonal divisions like setsubun, the beginning of spring; nyubai, the start of rainy season; natsu no doyo when people eat eel, etc.

Kou are other divisions like kuma ana ni komoru (Dec. 12, 2012) when bears start to hibernate; and ketsugyo muragaru (Dec. 16, 2012) when salmon start swimming ups-tream.

　I keep a Kou calendar in my kitchen to study Japanese culture when for example I'm waiting for water to boil. I am al-ways fascinated by the deep sensitivity Japanese have toward nature and the seasons. The number of sekki and kou together adds up to 108.

　As a westerner, I like to visualize the three numbers written in Roman letters. The "1" looks like a vertical connection between Heaven and Earth. The "0" stands for emptiness or a complete circle (wholeness). The 8 when turned sideways is the infinity mark.

　Whatever explanation you prefer, may you have a pleasant end of the year. Thank you for reading my column this past year, and I look forward to being inspired and awed by your beautiful culture again in 2013 and to be able to share my thoughts with you.

　Yoi otoshi o to all of you!