Use google translate if you want to read this post in other language.
ws169_WHY?: questions about Japan - History (a)
ws170_WHY?: questions about Japan - History (b)
ws171_WHY?: questions about Japan - History (c)
ws172_WHY?: questions about Japan - History (d)
ws173_WHY?: questions about Japan - History (e)
hope this series helps you to understand the Japan country and people.
外国人が疑問に思う事柄の動画です。日本に興味のある外国人が知り合いにいたらぜひシェアしてください。
text テキスト: 『なぜ、日本人は? 答えに詰まる外国人の質問178 Hard-to-Answer Questinos about Japan』著:内池久貴他 written by Uchiiké Hisataka and others/訳:マイケル・ブレーズ translated by Michael Brase(ジャパンブック JapanBook 2009)
Use google translate if you want to read this post in other language.
ws167_WHY?: questions about Japan - Customs (a)
ws168_WHY?: questions about Japan - Customs (b)
hope this series helps you to understand the Japan country and people.
外国人が疑問に思う事柄の動画です。日本に興味のある外国人が知り合いにいたらぜひシェアしてください。
text テキスト: 『なぜ、日本人は? 答えに詰まる外国人の質問178 Hard-to-Answer Questinos about Japan』著:内池久貴他 written by Uchiiké Hisataka and others/訳:マイケル・ブレーズ translated by Michael Brase(ジャパンブック JapanBook 2009)
This is a card sent as a greeting for the new year. It usually has a picture of an animal appropriately corresponding with that year’s sexagenary cycle (éto) and is sent so that it arrives on New Year’s Day. Government post cards indicating a New Year’s gift are popular, because a prize is awarded by lottery. Most business néngajō come complete with the printed contents, while writing one’s own néngajō can tax one’s ingenuity. Néngajō also arrive from old friends; it is a pleasure both to write such cards and to receive them.
──『日本文化を英語で紹介する事典
A Bilingual Handbook on Japanese Culture【第3版】』
杉浦洋一+John K. Gillespie
ナツメ社/2004年
なぜ、お中元、お歳暮というプレゼントをするのですか? Why do Japanese send gifts in summer (chūgén) and winter (séibo)?
Long ago a Taoist ritual, chūgén took on the influence of the Buddhist Bon Festival, which was held around the same time, as well as the Japanese way of thinking in dividing the year into two halves, and it became an event for honoring ancestors and celebrating the safety of the first half of the year. The custom of afterwards sharing with relatives and other people items that had been offered up to the spirits of the dead changed into the current custom of courteously exchanging gifts.
Consequently, chūgén today principally refers to gifts that individuals and businesses send from early in July to July 15th to people to whom they are indebted.
This is a gift sent in the middle of December. Compared with the midyear chūgén gift, this one signifies gratitude for kindness throughout the year, so it costs somewhat more than chūgén. Early in December department stores begin to get crowded with people buying gifts, and that hustle and bustle is part of the year-end atmosphere that gives a real sense of the approaching new year. Usually, people say oseibo, adding the prefix “o” to express politeness.
──同上
なぜ、お彼岸に墓参りをするのですか? Why do Japanese visit the family grave during the vernal and autumnal equinoxes?
Higan occurs twice a year and each lasts one week, with the Vernal and Autumn Equionx Days occurring in the middle of their respective weeks. In Buddhist terms, higan means “the other side of the river crossed by the dead,” which means that, while this side is the world of the living, the other side is the world of the dead. In order to comfort the spirits of the ancestors on the other side, people make visits to graves during higan. It is generally called “ohigan,” with the prefix “o” to make it sound polite.
──同上
なぜ、「お盆」は7月と8月に2回あるのですか? Why is Obon held twice, in July and August?
This is a Buddhist event occurring from the 13th to 15th of July or August to hold a memorial service for the spirits of ancestors. Because the spirits of the dead are said to return at this time, fires are lit at the entrances to homes so the spirits do not lose their way, and, in addition to lanterns being lit inside homes, the Buddhist home alters are tidied up and vegetables and fruit are set out as offerings. And when *bon is over, the spirits are sent on their way. This is called the escorting of the spirits and fires to send them on their way are lit at entrances of homes and offerings are floated on rivers and the ocean.
──同上
なぜ、海や川にロウソク(灯籠)を流すのですか? Why are candles set afloat on rivers and in the ocean during Obon?