Folk culture in edo period

Japan calls it "Young Sacrifice", also known as "Peach Blossom Festival". On March 3rd every year, parents celebrate a holiday for girls. At that time, they put on bright kimonos for girls, put dolls at home, wish them to get rid of bad luck and disasters, grow up happily, and take girls to visit relatives and go out to play. There is also the custom of "floating young" in the Kansai area, where "little figures" are put into the river, let them drift down with the flow and wash away bad luck. Japanese customs and important programs

(1) customs and habits

Japan is known as the "land of etiquette", and it is the custom of the Japanese people to pay attention to etiquette. People usually bow and bow to each other when they meet, and say "hello", "goodbye", "please take care of me" and so on.

Japanese people attach great importance to exchanging business cards when they meet for the first time. It is not only rude to meet for the first time without a business card, but also the other party will think that you are not sociable. When giving each other business cards, you should bow down first and hand over the business cards with both hands. After receiving the other party's business card, you should read it carefully to see the identity, position and company of the other party, and nod your head to show that you know the identity of the other party. Japanese people think that business cards are the representatives of a person, and treat them as if they were themselves. If you take a business card and put it in your pocket without reading it, it is considered rude. If you are going to a business negotiation meeting, you must deliver your business card to everyone in the room and accept their business card. You can't leave out anyone. Although it takes a lot of time, it is a way to show mutual friendship and respect.

When visiting a Japanese family, you should make an appointment with the host in advance, and ring the bell to announce your name before entering the house. If there is no doorbell in this house, never knock on the door, but open the sliding door on the door and ask, "Excuse me, is there anyone inside?" After entering the door, you should take the initiative to take off your clothes and hats, take off your scarf (but even if the weather is hot, you can't just wear a vest or barefoot, otherwise it would be rude), put on spare slippers and give the gifts you brought to your host. When you are sitting in a room, it is polite to sit with your back to the door. Only under the persuasion of the host can you move to a distinguished position (distinguished position refers to the seat in front of the niche with various works of art and decorations, which is specially prepared for VIPs). Japanese people are not used to letting guests visit their houses, so don't ask for a look around. Japan is particularly taboo for men to break into the kitchen. You have to ask the owner's permission to go to the toilet. When eating, if you don't know how to eat a certain meal, you should ask the host for advice, and turn your chopsticks around to use when picking up food. When saying goodbye, ask the guests to ask first and thank the host. When you return to your residence, you should call the other party to tell them that you have returned safely and thank them again. Don't forget to express your gratitude when you meet your host again after a while.

When Japanese people hold a banquet and toast, they often put a bowl filled with clear water in the middle of the table and put a clean white gauze in front of everyone. Before pouring wine, the host will rinse his glass in clear water, press it on the gauze with the cup mouth down, so that the water droplets will be sucked up by the gauze, and then fill the wine and hand it to the guests with both hands. After drinking, the guests do the same to show the friendship and intimacy between the host and guest. This is the traditional way of toasting.

Japanese people always bring gifts when visiting relatives and friends or attending banquets. A family spends 7.5% of its income on gifts every month. When visiting a Japanese family, you must bring gifts. The Japanese think that giving a gift is much more meaningful than saying "thank you" because it expresses gratitude with practical actions. When giving gifts to Japanese people, we should master the "value sense", and the gifts should be neither too heavy nor too light. If it is too heavy, he will think that you want something from him, thus inferring that your goods or services are not good; If it is too light, it will be thought that you despise him. It is more appropriate to take some packaged food with you for a general visit to a Japanese family, but don't give flowers, because some flowers are used for courtship or funeral. Japanese people pay attention to the decoration of gifts. Gifts should be wrapped in several layers and tied with a beautiful ribbon or paper rope. The Japanese believe that there is a soul in the knot, which indicates the sincerity of the giver. People who accept gifts usually give them back. Japanese people don't open gifts in front of guests, mainly to avoid embarrassing guests because of the discomfort of gifts. The Japanese don't mind that gifts they don't need can be given to others. Japanese people generally don't use even numbers for gifts. This is because the "four" in even numbers is the same as death in Japanese. In order to avoid bad luck, "four" is not used in many occasions. Over time, even numbers such as second, fourth and sixth are simply not given. They love to send singular numbers, especially the three singular numbers of three, five and seven. But "nine" should also be avoided, because "nine" and "bitterness" are pronounced the same in Japanese.

There are many traditional gift-giving seasons in Japan, and the value and types of gifts are different in different gift-giving seasons. Year-end is the biggest gift-giving season, and food is the main gift in the Yuan and Year-end, and the proportion of non-food in other festivals is quite high. When it comes to gift-giving season, it is often a good time to promote some goods. Examples of gift values and types in each gift-giving season are as follows:

(l) Mid-Autumn Festival (July 15th). Gifts cost 3, ~ 1, yen, with an average of 5,12 yen. Gifts include candy, wine, dairy products, cooking oil, coffee, tea, shirts, scarves and gift certificates.

(2) year and night. Gifts are worth 5 ~ 1 yen, with an average of 552 yen. There are food, wine, tea, coffee, cooking oil, shirts, wool blankets and so on.

(3) get married. The gift is worth 2, ~ 1, yen (invited to the wedding) or 3 ~ 1, yen (not attending the wedding). Gifts include electric kettle, toaster, microwave oven, slippers, pajamas, handbags and so on.

(4) Adult (2 years old).

the gift value is from l to 2, yen. There are belts and cufflinks. Tie clip, cosmetics, clothes and accessories, leather bag, shoes, etc.

(5) valentine's day. The gift value is 4 ~ 1 yen. There are sweets and biscuits, and women give men chocolates.

(6) Mother's Day. The gift value is 3 ~ 5 yen. There are cosmetics, flowers, clothes and so on.

(7) Father's Day. The gift value is 5 ~ 1 yen. There are clothes, accessories such as ties, collar clips, socks, lighters and so on.

(8) Christmas. The gift value is 5 ~ 2 yen. There are toys, clothes accessories, amusement instruments, precious metals, sporting goods, CDs and so on.

(II) Important Festivals

There are 14 national holidays in Japan, and there are 5 other important festivals, which are briefly described as follows:

New Year's Day: January 1st. According to the general custom in Japan, before New Year's Eve, we should clean up, hang a straw rope at the door, insert oranges (called "note string"), and place pine, bamboo and plum (called "door pine", which has been replaced by pictures) in front of the door to get lucky. On New Year's Eve, the whole family got together for dinner, and listened to the "New Year's Eve bell" in the middle of the night. Eat rice cake soup (called "miscellaneous cooking") on New Year's Day morning.

Adult Day: January 15th. Young men and women who have reached the age of 2 should wear festive costumes on this day to participate in adult ceremonies and celebrations organized by governments at all levels for them.

national day: February 11th. According to Japanese mythology, Emperor Jimmu unified Japan and established Japan on February 11th, 66 BC.

Girls' Day

Japan calls it "Young Sacrifice", also known as "Peach Blossom Festival". On March 3rd every year, parents celebrate a holiday for girls. At that time, they put on bright kimonos for girls, put dolls at home, wish them to get rid of bad luck and disasters, grow up happily, and take girls to visit relatives and go out to play. There is also the custom of "floating young" in the Kansai area, where "little figures" are put into the river, let them drift down with the flow and wash away bad luck.

vernal equinox: March 21st. It is the day when the emperor sacrifices ancestors and the common people sacrifice ancestors.

Arbor Day: April 29th.

Constitution Day: May 3rd. Commemorate the implementation of the Japanese Constitution on May 3, 1947.

National Day: May 4th.

Boys' Day (also known as Children's Day and Dragon Boat Festival): May 5th. On this day, large cloth carp (called "carp flag") were hung in front of families with sons. Japan regards May 5th in the solar calendar as the Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon Boat Festival is the same day as Boys' Day, so every household has calamus leaves on their doors, Zhong Kui's ghost-exorcism map is hung in the house, and cakes (called "cypress cakes") or zongzi are eaten.

The Bonin Festival

was introduced to Japan from China in the 7th century. In 675, Emperor Qi Ming offered sacrifices to his parents, and it became a palace festival. Later, it was widely spread among the people, similar to the Ghost Festival on July 15th in the China lunar calendar. Japan used to hold activities on July 15th of the lunar calendar every year, and later changed to July 15th of the solar calendar, to mourn the dead of relatives and friends, to worship ancestors, to visit graves, and sometimes to hold "basin dance" and other mourning activities. This is one of the main popular folk festivals in Japan, and now it has become a festival for city people to return to their hometown to meet their relatives and friends.

The Mid-Autumn Festival

also falls on July 15th, which was a festival for worshipping agricultural land gods in ancient times. Now, it is combined with the Yulan Basin Festival to become a day for worshipping ancestors. At this time, gifts are given to relatives, friends, elders and people who give benefits. At present, gifts are even given between units or individuals. This kind of gift is called "Zhongyuan" and has become a new custom.

respect for the elderly: September 15th. Cities, towns and villages have gathered to celebrate and presented souvenirs to the elderly.

autumnal equinox: September 23rd. It is the day when the emperor worships his ancestors in autumn.

sports festival: October 1th. Commemorate the opening of the 18th International Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in 1964.

cultural festival: November 3rd. Those who have made outstanding contributions to cultural undertakings are awarded the "Cultural Medal" on this day.

July 5th

is a traditional festival on November 15th every year for Japanese society and families to celebrate the New Year for children aged 7, 5 and 3. It started in heian period, when a noble family held a celebration ceremony for a 5-year-old boy. In the era of Kamakura and Muromachi, it developed into a ceremony for ministers or ministers to wear kimonos for boys aged two or three. After the middle period of Edo, the current custom was formed. Every day, parents bless boys and girls, wish the gods to bless their healthy growth, put on beautiful kimonos for them, take them to the shrine to pay homage, register them, and get their children's badges to show that they can start to participate in some social activities.

industrious thanks festival: November 23rd.

If you travel to Japan for business, the time you should avoid in a year is from mid-December to mid-January (celebrating the New Year at the end of the year), from April 29th to May 5th (during the Golden Week holiday, Japanese people usually go out to travel, and many shops are closed), and from July to August (during this period, businessmen will go on holiday).