Portland Japanese Garden

Excerpted from Ikebana International Volume 53 Issue 2
Photographs by Gorazd Vilhar

The final event in the annual cycle of Go-Sekku is traditionally held on 9/9 and is officially known as Choyo no Sekku, though most people know it today as Kiku no Sekku or Kiku Matsuri—the Chrysanthemum Festival. Choyo means "double yang," referring to the double nines of the date, nine being considered the highest odd number and therefore the most "yang" of all numbers in Taoist belief. Yin and yang are the two opposing (and complementary) forces of the cosmos, yin being the negative, gentle force, and yang being the positive, strong force. The 9th day of the 9th month was thought to be the most yang date of the year, and the sun—the most yang element of the universe—is a symbol of the greatest importance in Japanese culture.

The creation stories of Japan attribute the beginning of civilization to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, and the 16-petalled chrysanthemum, which resembles a sunburst, continues to represent the imperial family as its personal emblem and a national symbol of Japan.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

An array of spider chrysanthemums at the annual gala chrysanthemum display at Senno-ji temple, Asakusa, Tokyo.

Held at the beginning of autumn, after the harvest at the close of the agricultural year, Choyo no Sekku was a time for relaxation in farm communities. Drinking sake with chrysanthemums in it was considered good for health—kiku is a homonym for both "chrysanthemum" and "to be effective" in healing.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

Chrysanthemums, chrysanthemums, and chrysanthemums...each year a different floral scene at Zenyo-ji temple, Tokyo.

Chrysanthemums are the autumn flower in Japan, appearing in paintings and poetry and as design elements in lacquer ware, textiles, and ceramics. Many of the customs around this autumn festival involved these hardy flowers, which bloom well into the start of winter.

By the Meiji period (1868–1912), the signature event associated with this sekku was the cultivation of elaborately trained chrysanthemums, displayed in colorful rows. Townspeople donned their most beautiful kimono for a promenade to the nearest temple courtyard to view the fabulous displays. The emperor would give a splendid annual "chrysanthemum contemplating party" (kangiku). From farm villagers to aristocrats, Kiku no Sekku was enjoyed as a purely aesthetic celebration of flowers in this most beloved season and the last major observance of the cycle of Go-Sekku for the year.

Excerpted from Ikebana International Volume 53 Issue 2
Photographs by Gorazd Vilhar

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

Love wishes and poems are inscribed on colorful strips of paper and tied to bamboo branches for heavenly attention, during the Tanabata celebration; Rikugien Garden, Tokyo.

Tanabata, the fourth of the Go-Sekku observances, traditionally takes place on 7/7. The festival takes its name from an old Japanese legend of the weaver girl, Tanabata Tsume, who is visited once a year by a spirit in her riverside hut on the Milky Way. This legend was later combined with a Chinese myth about a pair of star-crossed lovers, a weaver woman (Shokujo, or Vega) and a herdsman (Kengyu, or Altair), who were doomed to traverse the sky separately, able to cross the Milky Way and be together only once a year if the sky is clear. The festival is also referred to as the Festival of Stars in guidebooks.

During the Heian period, Tanabata was celebrated at imperial banquets, during which the emperor would observe the meeting of the stars, with performances of poetry and music. Today on Tanabata, people commonly write poems and wishes on strips of paper and make brightly colored paper festoons, with which they decorate a fresh green branch of bamboo to display beside their doorways.

Streets of some Japanese cities are decked out with lavish plastic decorations, making Tanabata something of a tourist attraction.

Excerpted from Ikebana International Volume 53 Issue 2
Photographs by Gorazd Vilhar

Popularly celebrated as a national holiday on 5/5, Kodomo no Hi (Children's Day) began as a special day for boys. Tango no Sekku, the original title of this festival meant First (tan) Day of the Horse (go) in the old calendar. Various equine practices developed over the centuries, to celebrate valor and encourage all the virtues of manhood. Similar to the Girl's Day observance on March 3, Tango no Sekku was a time to ensure the health of a male child, of particular importance during feudal times. The leaves of flag iris, which bloom at this time of year, were thought to have healing properties when added to the bath, a custom called shobu-yu.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

Strings of carp streamers span the Sagami River in Kanagawa prefecture from late April through early May.

During the Edo period, this festival complemented Girl's Day even further with the making and display of elaborate samurai warrior dolls and beautifully made miniature horses. Colorful streamers in the shape of carp (koi nobori) were flown, the carp having legendary qualities of perseverance as they swim up river and become dragons if they are able to surmount the waterfalls. Food again plays and important role in this festival, with the serving of sweet rice cakes wrapped in oak leaves (kashiwa-mochi).

After World War II, Tango no Sekku was renamed Children's Day in a gesture intended to recognize all children without gender discrimination on this day, though the associated practices remain largely traditional. The custom of flying one carp banner for each male child in a family evolved into one banner for each member of the family. It is the only one of the sekku designated a national holiday.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

Excerpted from Ikebana International Volume 53 Issue 2
Photographs by Gorazd Vilhar

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

Paper hina dolls are set afloat by children on the pond in Tokyo's Meiji Shrine north garden.

The second of the Go-Sekku, Momo no Sekku, the Peach Festival, traditionally takes place on 3/3. In the old lunar calendar, this day fell when spring warmth began to be felt, the peach trees bloomed, and people felt the need to cast off the staleness of winter and cleanse themselves of winter's lingering maladies. Early customs associated with the day involved ritual cleansing on the river banks and a purification rite that included making paper figures, moving them against one's body, then casting them into a river to exorcise illness and evil spirits. A similar custom of floating dolls down a river, called nagashi-bina, continues today in some parts of Japan. The popular name for this festival is Hina Matsuri, the Doll Festival, a day to pray for the health and wellbeing of girls (also called Girl's Day).

Though the origin of the custom remains obscure, from early on a display of two dolls was put up in aristocratic homes on this day. During the Edo period, this developed into an extravagantly decorated, multitiered display of dolls dressed as courtly prince and princess, with attendant advisors, ladies-in-waiting, and servants. Sets of dolls are given by parents or grandparents at the birth of a female child and displayed for at least a week before March 3.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

A display of more than 600 Hina Matsuri dolls at Tomisaki Shrine, Katsuura, Chiba prefecture.

The festival teaches etiquette to little girls, as each delicate doll must be specially cared for, carefully wrapped and unwrapped each year. Hina parties are held, and the girl's friends gather to learn how to be a lady and eat delicately colored pink, green and white rice cakes and sip small amounts of a mild, sweet sake drink.

photos: Gorazd Vilhar

(top) Examples of the seven herbs of winter are exhibited in a planter. (bottom) A child is fed a bit of seven-herb rice porridge from his grandmother's bowl.

Excerpted from Ikebana International Volume 53 Issue 2
Photographs by Gorazd Vilhar

Traditionally on 1/7, Jinjitsu no Sekku is the first of the year's official sekku—the last of seven days on which special divination rituals are conducted. Each of the first six days is named for the animal that protects it: the day of the Cock, the Dog, the Boar, the Sheep, the Ox, and the Horse, culminating in a special seventh day called Jinjitsu (literally, "People Day").

On this day, traditionally, a hot rice porridge is prepared with seven types of fresh green herbs (nanakusa), including daikon radish and turnip greens, chickweed, and other wild greens thought to be good for health. During the Heian period, the ritual porridge was comprised of seven grains, following similar Chinese practices, but during Muromachi times (1333–1573), herbs replaced the grains. In the Edo period, when the shogun decreed that all his subjects would observe the Go-Sekku, it became mandatory for feudal lords to start the year's cycle of observances by eating the seven-herb porridge before entering the castle for the year's first audience with the shogun.

The popularity of the Feast of Seven herbs declined somewhat in modern times, but seems to have made a comeback in recent years; both urban and rural supermarkets sell packs of nanakusa. Preparations for New Year (Shogatsu) begin in late December, then the entire nation takes time off for reflection and family for the first three days of the New Year.

Excerpted from Ikebana International Volume 53 Issue 2
Photographs by Gorazd Vilhar

Of the hundreds of ritual observances that take place throughout the year in Japan, some have their roots in indigenous folk practices that have marked changes in the seasons and the agricultural cycle throughout Japan for centuries. Other annual rituals originated in China, and among them is a special cycle of five festival events known as the Go-Sekku, which have melded with earlier Japan folk traditions to become permanent fixtures in the calendar year.

The word sekku refers to seasonal observances; the character for "ku" originally meant "offering" or "oblation." Food plays a central role, particularly rice in various forms, in almost every festival gathering. During the Heian period (794–1185), these observances were part of aristocratic ritual, requiring the special preparation and partaking of season food offerings on the appointed day conducted according to precise rituals to ensure the fertility and health of the imperial family throughout the year.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

(above left) A Kyoto worshiper sets a rope smoldering with sacred fire at Yasaka Shrine on New Year's Eve, to be carried home and used to light the year's first cooking fire. (above right) Hamaya, evil-repelling arrows, are sold as charms at shrines during the first days of the year.

In the Edo period (1603–1868), by a decree of the Tokugawa shogunate, the whole nation was enjoined to adopt the Go-Sekku observances. In addition to the peace-of-mind that observing the proper rituals afforded, the yearly cycle served as a metaphor for life itself—from the first promise of spring to the coming of warmer weather, the start of the rainy season, the approaching heat of summer, and the end of the growing season in autumn.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

Celebrants at a Kamakura beach observe the year's first sunrise (Hatsu Hinode), while windsurfers enjoy the first sail of the year.

Originally, following the Chinese lunar calendar, the sekku were celebrated on the 7th day of the 1st month, the 3rd day of the 3rd month, the 5th day of the 5th month, the 7th day of the 7th month, and the 9th day of the 9th month—all considered propitious, powerful dates.

While the many customs and common names for these seasonal observances have changed greatly over the centuries, the Go-Sekku have remained at the heart of the Japanese approach to life—one that appreciates the beauty of the passing seasons and the poignancy and brevity of life itself. Through events like this ongoing cycle of seasonal festive observances, the fabric of life and a strong sense of national community survive.

Here at the Portland Japanese Garden, we believe in the importance of continuing to introduce our visitors to these elegant Japanese customs, hoping to encourage that same love of nature, the changing seasons, and each other's good company in our community.