Fuyu · December — February
Winter: snow, bells and fresh starts
Winter carries Japan's most important holiday — Oshogatsu, the New Year — a festival of deep cleaning, first shrine visits and food packed with wishes. It ends with beans thrown at demons and entire palaces carved out of snow in Hokkaido.
Festivals of winter
Oshogatsu — New Year
The year's greatest holiday: hatsumode shrine visits, osechi feasts and money envelopes for children.
Setsubun — Bean Throwing
"Demons out, fortune in!" — roasted soybeans chase bad luck away on the eve of spring.
Yuki Matsuri — Snow Festival
Sapporo's park fills with hundreds of snow and ice sculptures, glowing after dark.
Winter habits & customs
What people do
- Clean everything (osoji). The year must not carry its dust forward — homes, offices and temples are scrubbed in late December.
- Send nengajo. New Year postcards timed by the post office to land exactly on January 1.
- Listen for 108 bells. Joya no kane — temple bells rung 108 times at midnight, once for each human desire.
- Make hatsumode. The first shrine visit of the year, for an omikuji fortune and a lucky arrow.
- Warm up together. Kotatsu tables, mikan oranges, nabe hotpots and the first-snow news from the north.
What to avoid
- Don't visit someone's home empty-handed at New Year — a small gift (omiyage) is the rule.
- Don't tie a bad omikuji fortune anywhere but the shrine's rack — leave the bad luck behind you.
- Don't throw Setsubun beans at people's faces — aim low; and eat your age in beans, plus one for the coming year.
New Year table: every dish in the osechi box is a pun or a wish —
see what each one means on the food page. Shrine
manners for hatsumode are on the etiquette page.
Winter at a glance
| When | What happens | Key custom |
|---|---|---|
| Late December | Osoji & decorations | Deep cleaning, kadomatsu pines |
| Dec 31 | Omisoka | Toshikoshi soba, 108 temple bells |
| Jan 1–3 | Oshogatsu | Hatsumode, osechi, otoshidama |
| February 3 | Setsubun | Mamemaki bean throwing, ehomaki rolls |
| Early February | Yuki Matsuri | Snow sculptures in Sapporo |