The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1910-12-29

IL SDSClIlC preparations lot inc
New Year begin about the thirteenth
of the last month. Then, within every
bouse in the empire, a general clean
ing up takes place. A fresh, green
branch of the bamboo tree, with its leaves and
twigs TO symbolic good fortune, is used as a
buster in completing the thorough sweeping. AT
this time the soft rice mats of which the floor.
ing in Japanese homes is made are renewed in
order that the callers at the New Year may be
received where they can enjoy a spotless footing.
At this time, too, all matrons and maids are
busy getting ready for wear on New Years day
kimonos that shall have no trace in them of the
vanished past. To old and young the daily theme
of thought and talk is the coming New Year"
full as much as christmas" is to us.
Outside the houses symbolic decoration has
full sway. and transforms the thoroughfares into
gayiy coiored and evergreen avenues. The tree
less streets are turned, for the time being, into
vistas of swaying bamboo and pine trees. Before
each house entrance, according to the tenants
purses and taste, stands a kind of archway. Its
pine branches, supposedly male and female. on
the right and left, and the tall triple bamboo
shafts (both trees symbolic Of longevity that Is
OF a hardness that has borne the storms and
struggles Of long life into a rugged old age) wei
come the visitor. Over head. spanning the space
between these uprights of the arch, is a decorat-
ed rope always Of rice straw. having on 1t various
pendants arranged in series of seven. Ave and
three kluCKy numDeTSD.' kne rope recalls one q Il
the most revered and poetic traditions of the Jap
anese past. The sun goddess, the ancestress OF
the imperial house of the empire, was angered
with her brother in the ancient days, and in re-
venge hid herself in a cave. Darkness then pre-
vailed In heaven and over the earth. The gods,
In their perplexity, tried to induce her to ONE
out of her hiding place. But In vain did they
appear, until, in a dance they had arranged, she
was induced by a taunt that touched her vanity
to open the door of her self-chosep dungeon. One
of the gods then drew her forth. and, to prevent
her running back into the cave, stretched a straw
rope across the entrance. The perpetual shining
of the sun. secured thereby, remains memorial
lied in the garlanded barrier hanging above each
japanese portal at New Years time.
Among the most noticeable and significant CD
jects ornamentlng these doorway arches is a scar
let lobster. embedded among some branches OF a
bush whose old leaves remain unshed until after
the young leaves have budded. The Holsters
crooked body tells of old age bent with years.
while the bush branches around it show how
parents remain even while children and chill
dren's children may come into being. In the
same decoration fronds OF fern are placed. whose
pairs OF leaves symbolic welded life, The or
ange. whose color ~brightens the clustered sym
bols. bears a name which. as a pun. means gen
~rations." and tells of family perpetuity. Sea.
weed is there. too, as a memorial OF good fortune.
concentrating also the prehistoric conquest of
Korea by the Empress lingo. Her troops were in
danger of defeat because their horses on the Ko-
rean seashore were starving from lack of food.
But. by inspiration. she ordered seaweed to be
plucked from the waters of the beach and given
to the horses. who then were so 'invigorated that
they carried their riders to glorious victory.
Gohel white bands of paper wave over the gar
lands of the doorway arches symbolic of the an.
cient offerings that have won the favor of 'the
myriad gods"
After busy weeks or preparation at last the
closing day of the year comes. On New Years
eve the whole country Is astir and every place
that needs a light for use or beauty Is frightened.
All through that night the people stay out Of bed
to see the old year pass and to welcome the new.
Merchants do not go to bed until the dawn Of
New Years day. All the business accounts OF
the closing year must he settled that night, and
In every sense of the word the year be begun
afresh among those Japanese who are guided by
the old social order. All things are made new.
Bad luck. bad feelings. unsettled debts. are ali
to be done away with and a new chapter of life
opened. filled with happy prospects. The com.
plete renewal OF old-iashioned Japanese life at
the New Year II well shown In one OF the names
that the day bears. San Gan. The Three Begin