Hatsumōde

Hatsumōde is the first shrine or temple visit of the new year. Visitors may give thanks and pray for well-being. The first three days of January are a common time, with visits also taking place later in the New Year period.

A destination can be a Shinto shrine or a Buddhist temple such as Kawasaki Daishi or Naritasan Shinshōji. The object of worship and form of observance vary. A torii, temple gate, worship hall or main hall helps identify the setting before you follow its instructions.

A common shrine sequence is two bows, two claps and a final bow, though shrine customs vary. Naritasan’s instructions describe a bow, an offering, joined hands in prayer and another light bow. Follow the guidance for the place you are visiting.

Omamori are portable protective charms; ofuda are talismans generally enshrined at home. Omikuji are slips offering fortunes or guidance, while ema are wooden votive tablets on which visitors write prayers or thanks before hanging them up. The objects and their use vary between institutions. Meiji Jingū’s Ōmigokoro presents poems with explanations rather than the usual good- or bad-fortune grades.

A talisman can remain part of religious practice after it has been taken home. Achi Shrine in Kurashiki asks visitors to return old ofuda and omamori with thanks for the protection received. It accepts shrine talismans and household shrines, but not items from Buddhist temples. Meiji Jingū has a narrower collection rule: its return point accepts only its own ofuda and omamori, excluding other lucky objects. Where and what to return therefore depend on the institution, even when objects share familiar names.

Some visits span New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, a practice called ninenmairi. Others take place during the day or later in the New Year period. Personal prayer before a hall differs from joining a formal service. At Naritasan, the instructions for a goma fire ritual direct visitors to apply for a prayer talisman at reception, then attend the prayer in the main hall. Each destination publishes its own opening and service arrangements.

Earlier observances included waiting for the year deity at home or at a local tutelary shrine. Toshigomori meant keeping vigil through New Year’s Eve, whether at home or within or before the local shrine. Late-Edo visits could also follow an auspicious direction or a deity’s first festival day, each with its own timing and destination.

The 1872 railway between Shinbashi and Yokohama brought visitors closer to Kawasaki Daishi. The National Diet Library describes a New Year’s Day visit, independent of festival dates and auspicious directions, becoming established there by the mid-1880s. A connecting electric line opened in 1899.

Rail extensions in 1894 and 1897 shortened journeys to Naritasan, previously reached from Tokyo by boat and on foot. Pilgrimage and suburban outings became easier to combine. Railway guides and station photographs record the transport infrastructure around these visits.

Meiji Jingū was founded in 1920, adding a New Year destination in Tokyo. Historian Noboru Hirayama argues that participation by a wider urban public, including intellectuals, helped hatsumōde expand between the world wars. He interprets this through the interaction of urban leisure and national consciousness. Visits were still commonly chosen by individuals or families; this interpretation does not imply identical motives or a uniformly compulsory state activity.

Meiji Jingū did not issue omikuji before the war. It began offering its poem-based Ōmigokoro at New Year in 1947, then introduced English fortunes in 1968 as overseas visitors increased. An object encountered on a New Year visit can itself have a modern institutional history.

For New Year 2021, Fukuoka’s shrine association promoted saisakimōde: visits from the less crowded December period, with New Year talismans made available early. This was a specific response to pandemic crowding, with arrangements varying between institutions.

A visit may involve family observance, a formal prayer service, receiving a charm or a brief personal prayer. These activities can overlap without every visitor doing them all. The New Year season provides a shared setting while households and institutions retain different practices.