yamaonna

Shunbun no Hi / Higan no Chu-Nichi

(VERNAL EQUINOX Day)

Like Fall Equinox, Vernal Equinox is one of the most traditional Japanese National Holidays. These holidays seem to have a double origin. One is the celebration of seasonal change typical of an agricultural society: this is the day when the day-time and the night-time are equal length. The actual date of the Vernal Equinox day may change from year to year due to leap year. Based on the Buddhist teaching, this Vernal Equinox is also called Higan no Chu-Nichi, as is Autumn Equinox on September 23rd. Many Japanese visit their family tombs on this day in the middle of the week of Higan to pay their respects to their ancestors. People weed their family tombs, and leave flowers, incense and ohagi (sweet rice balls covered with red bean paste). It is tradition that ancestors’ spirits prefer round food! Since ASIJ is next to Tama Bochi (Tama Cemetery), one of the largest cemeteries in the Tokyo area, we often experience heavy traffic on trains and highways on this day. Japanese consider this period the changing of the season, because it is usually around Higan that the cold front hanging over the Japanese islands weakens, and the weather changes to spring. Thus we have a saying “Atsusa samusa mo Higan made” (“Heat and cold last until Higan”).-http://www.asij.ac.jp/elementary/japan/jp_holi.html#mar20

whoo! its gonna get warmer!

Monday Xina and I went to Ghibli.  As always its a ton of fun.  It’s too bad you can’t take photos inside, its a pretty amazing place.  We also had lunch in Kichijoji as DevaDeva, a vegetarian place that makes pretty much everything they serve.  I tell you what, the burgers are goooooood!  But its a little difficult to find.  And to top the day off we had free tickets to see Blood Diamond in Nakano.  Twas a long day but pretty enjoyable.  Think we will be going back to Kichijoji on Monday again to see the cherry blossoms!