Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/56

 of opening its buds. To see the New Year in is considered a wholesome custom, but it involves something more than it does in the West, for, after greeting the stranger, folks remain up to welcome him. Let a man's enthusiasm be ever so defective, he is expected to rise at the hour of the tiger, wash his feet and hands and don new clothes to meet the auspicious morn. Then, with his gala garments in due order, he worships the celestial and terrestrial deities, performs obeisance to the spirits of his ancestors, offers congratulations to parents and elders, and finally sits down to breakfast. No ordinary viands are consumed. The tea must be made with "young water" (waka-mizu), drawn from the well as the first ray of the new year's sun strikes it. The pièce de résistance (zōni) is a species of potpourri, made from six components, invariably present though in varying proportions, and it is absolutely essential that every one desiring to be hale and hearty throughout the opening twelve months should quaff a measure of special saké from a red-lacquer cup. Each householder, from the highest to the humblest, is careful to prepare and set out an "elysian stand," or red-lacquer tray, covered with leaves of the evergreen yuzuriha, and supporting a rice dumpling, a lobster, oranges, persimmons, chestnuts, dried sardines, and herring roe. This stand and its contents have allegorical signification. Ancient