Osechi Ryori Osechi Ryori - Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute

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Volume XX Number 1
Japanese Cultural Center Newsletter
January 2011
Osechi Ryori
By Masahiro Ando
January used to be a special month. Particularly the first couple of weeks of the month
were somewhat solemn. Ones’
neighborhood was very quiet with
JCC Notes
fewer people walking around and
fewer cars running, mainly because the In December, we received 833 guests
stores used to be closed until January 4th or 5th. Therefore, grandmothers and mothers used to fix special dishes for New Year’s Day at our facility and reached another
called Osechi Ryori. Most of these were cooked with the intention
178 people through our outreach
of being preserved for at least three days. Though the situation has
activities. In addition, we’ve benefited
changed quite a lot and even New Year’s Day is fairly noisy with
over 30 hours from our volunteers.
many 24/7 stores, the long-lasting Osechi Ryori stays traditional.
Thank you!
Osechi Ryori usually consists of about ten dishes, each of which
has its meaning. Here, let me give you some representative
examples:
Upcoming Events:
♦Shrimp: Shrimp are usually described as
“stooping.” So Japanese eat shrimp with
Oshogatsu
the hope of living so long that they stoop
February 9th—We
with age.
have limited seating
♦Herring eggs: The herring eggs are usually
a cake of many tiny eggs. They symbolize
so please contact
peoples’ wish to be gifted with many
Candie by February
children.
3rd to reserve
♦Sweet chestnuts: Sweet chestnuts are
cooked into a dish called Kuri-kin-ton. Kin
your place.
has the same pronunciation as gold in Japanese and ton is the same
Hina Matsuri—March 3rd
as block. The sound of Kuri-kin-ton gives people an image of a
block of gold or prosperity.
♦Black bean: Beans are pronounced Mame in Japanese. In JapaJAPANESE CULTURAL CENTER
nese there is an adjective, mame-mame-shii, which describes working diligently. Eating black beans, people make up their minds to
AT MUKOGAWA FORT WRIGHT INSTITUTE
work so hard that their faces are tanned very dark.
Masahiro Ando, Director
♦Lotus: Lotuses have holes, so you can see the scene behind the
Candie Faulhaber-Coker, Admin. Assistant
lotus. So lotus bring the idea of having future visions.
4000 West Randolph Rd, Spokane, WA, 99224
I hope 2011 will be a year with smiles of old people and children,
(509) 328-2971 email: JCC@mfwi.org
prosperity, diligence and wonderful visions into the future for you.