How to spend New Year (Jan. and the first half of Feb., 1802) 、正月の過ごし方（享和2年１～２月初旬）
In 1802, Ezo Magistrate's Office was established in Hokkaido to
strengthen security against Western ships especially Russia. Meanwhile, it was
also a year of thrived economic power among common people and a rise in travel
enthusiasm. A peaceful era continued inside Japan.
1802年は、欧米の船に対する警備を強化するため蝦夷奉行が置かれた。一方で、十返舎一九の『東海道中膝栗毛』が発刊。庶民の経済力が高まり、旅行熱が高まった年でもある。まだまだ平和な時代が続く。
January
The year began with New Year's greetings among villagers as usual. Then,
they visited their temple and shrine.
Behaviors on the New Year’s Day of some years are recorded just "as
usual." in the diary. Btw, New Year's Day is described as sunny with a
strong west wind. Weather was recorded every day.
From the next day, they made New Year's greetings to relatives
and acquaintances both inside and outside the village. Amazingly, this
continued until early February.
January is an off-season for farming. They should have plenty of free
time, although they made straw products such as shoes and gathered firewood
until spring.
So, what did they do?
They simply gathered together.
Gathering, chatting, eating, drinking, and singing was the most
popular and common pastime for villagers.
These highly sociable individuals enjoyed meeting people. There
were also many events that provided reasons for them to gather.
In January, they held not only the common New Year's
celebrations, but also many waiting-sun events (Himachi, “Hi” means “sun” and “Machi”
does “waiting”); people ate and drank while waiting for the sunrise.
The 9th was the Himachi for young people, and the 19th
was the Himachi for the Sanno Gongen festival eve. On the 20th,
foods and drinks were provided at the village head’s (Hyōemon) house.
Villagers, men and women, gathered.
The 25th was the Tenjin festival, and the 26th
was a holiday for Himachi of young people. There should also had been a Little
New Year's celebration on the 15th.
It's very frequent! I worry whether they had anything to talk
about.
However, there must had been no shortage of topics to talk,
because of their lifestyle; obtaining ingredients from fields and
forests, processing them, and making preserved food. Things like, "The
butterbur sprouts have come up," or "The pickled greens you made are
delicious. Please teach me how to make them." They had many topics which
towners didn’t have.
The topics of conversation changed every year, because they were
dealing with nature. My acquaintance said, "Farming prevents us from
dementia. We cannot do same things every year; we have to decide what we should
do every day."
This was probably even more true in those days, when people were
easily affected by nature. They had lots of things to talk related to food, clothing,
and shelter.
It's easy to imagine that gathering for events were fun, but
preparing food were time-consuming. There was no catering in a village (in Edo,
it was possible).
They drew well water to wash ingredients, built fires, and
cooked.
It was a very inconvenient time. Tasks were everywhere. They
took up time. But for them, it was usual, which meant it wasn't a burden.
On the 29th, Hyōemon departed for Edo with three
others. Actually, he had planned to make a "New Year's visit to Edo"
on the 5th with other village headmen under the same lord, but he
couldn’t due to illness.
Before his departure (the 21st), he received a letter
saying "Oheyasama (probably, lord's concubine) has passed
away." So, it was not only a greeting to the lord, but also offering condolences.
February
On the 1st, "At Matabei's house, Mikawaya Heibei
and we three had a drinking party." Matabei was a retainer of the lord;
his rank might not be high, because his surname isn't written. Mikawaya was the
recipient of the rice tax. He seemed to be a merchant who managed the lord's
property. So, what was talked?
He departed Edo three days later, on February 2nd (Note: Since lunar calendar was used, there was no 31st day; a month always had 30 days).
Although he had official duties, he might have also enjoyed the
bustling streets of Edo. Just walking around would surely have put him in a
festive mood.
On the day of his return to the village, he paid New Year's
greetings to relatives in Kanda (Edo). He returned to the village late at
night. The record states, "Returned home after 10 PM, bypassing the
gate," suggesting he returned without going through the gate of the
checkpoint. Was that alright for a village headman?
The gates of towns and checkpoints opened at sunrise (around 6
AM) and closed at sunset (around 6 PM).
Even after returning to the village on the 2nd, there
were many events still lined up.
On the 3rd, Hyōemon hosted the Himachi (waiting-sun
event) and served udon noodles. Five guests were invited; two were relatives, others were villagers. On the 4th, he participated
in the other Himachi.
On the 5th, it was a festival day for Inari
deity (the first Day of the Horse in February). There is no mention of the 6th,
and the 7th was a holiday for the smallpox deity. The next day, his
mother took his son and daughter to the smallpox deity shrine in the area
(Kashiwa City at present). There are many deities in Japan; each one has its
festival.
They switched between on and off very well! They were great.
During the busy farming season, they worked, almost worked.
During the off-season, they played a lot.
There's no point in working hard against nature. Working and
playing in accordance with nature was their way.
 |
| A New Year's greeting, Yokohama, Japan (1905)、新年挨拶＠横浜 https://www.loc.gov/item/2020637841/ |
１月
村人同士の正月の挨拶、鎮守寺と氏神の参詣が１年の始まりだ。
“例之通”と記載される年もある。元日は晴れ、西大風と記されている。
翌日からは、村内外の親戚・知人への年始挨拶回り。なんと、２月上旬まで続く。
１月は農閑期。春までは藁仕事や薪集めをするが、自由時間が多い。
では、何をするのか？
彼ら彼女らは、とにかく集まる。
集まって、しゃべって、食べて飲んで歌うのが最も多い過ごし方であり、娯楽だ。コミュ力が高い彼ら彼女らは、人と会うことが楽しみだった。集まる理由になる行事も多い。
１月は全国共通の正月行事だけでなく、日待も多かった。日待では飲食をしながら日の出まで過ごす。
9日は若者達が日待、19日は山王権現奉謝の宵日待。翌20日は“奉謝、村中男女振る舞い、宿は予等”とある。兵右衛門の家に村人が集まったようだ。
25日は天神奉謝、26日は若者の日待休日。15日には小正月の行事もあったはず。
村人がこんなに集まって話題があるのか、と心配してしまう。
しかし、田畑や林野から食材を得て、加工して保存食を作る生活をしていると、話題は尽きないはず。「ふきのとうが出てきた」とか、「あなたが漬けた青菜はおいしいね。今度教えて」など。自然が相手なので、話のネタはある。
“百姓しているとボケないよ”と言った知人もいるくらいだ。
自然の影響を受けやすい当時はなおさらだったろう。衣食住に関わる身近な話題が尽きない。
ところで、行事で集まるのは楽しいが、食べ物を作るのは手間がかかる。村にはケータリングがない（江戸にはある）。
井戸水を汲んで食材を洗う、火を起こして煮炊きをする。
何しろ不便な時代。作業はいたるところにあった。時間をとられる。でも、彼ら彼女らにとっては当たり前のこと、苦ではなかったのだ。
29日、兵右衛門は３人で出府。実は、５日に領主を同じくする名主たちと“年頭出府”する予定だったが、病気で不参。この日の出府となった。領主への挨拶だが、21日に“御部屋様、死去”との手紙を受け取っており、お悔やみが主目的だったのかも知れない。
２月
１日、“又兵衛殿宅において、三河屋平兵衛、我ら3人（同行者）、酒盛り”。又兵衛は領主の家来。苗字を書いてないので身分は低いかも。三河屋は年貢の引き渡し先。領主の蔵を預かる商人のようだ。さて、どんな話しがあったのか。
江戸を発ったのは３日後の２月２日（注：旧暦なので31日はない。１か月は常に30日）。お役目もあったが、繁華な江戸の街を楽しまないわけはない。歩くだけでも華やかな気分になるはず。
帰村の日は、神田の親戚に年始挨拶。千住を通り、到着は深夜。“抜戸にて、日暮れ四ツ過ぎ帰宅”とあり、木戸をスルーして帰ってきたようだ。名主なのにええんかいな。
町や関所の木戸は、日の出（明け六つ）とともに開き、日の入り（暮れ六つ）とともに閉まる。
２日深更に帰村した後も行事が目白押し。
３日は、兵右衛門が日待を主催し、うどんを振る舞う（親戚２人と村人３人を招く）。４日も日待に参加。５日は、初午奉謝、お稲荷さんだ。６日は記載なく、７日は疱瘡神休日。兵右衛門は振舞に呼ばれ外出。翌８日、母が子ども２人を連れて、青田新田（柏市）へ疱瘡参詣。
彼ら彼女らの生活は、メリハリが効いている。感心する。
農繁期は働く、ほとんど働く。農閑期はよく遊ぶ。
自然に逆らってあくせくしても仕方ない。自然に従って、働き、遊ぶのが彼ら彼女ら流だ。
Previous post (Peaceful days and funs of a village head in 19th
century, part 2（千葉県流山の名主日記): The time in which the village head lived、兵右衛門が生きた時代
Next post (Peaceful days and funs of a village head in 19th century,
part 4（千葉県流山の名主日記）): Pilgrimage with villagers (the second half of Feb. to Apr.,
1802)、仲間といっしょに巡礼の旅（享和2年２月後半～４月）(coming
soon)
The first article in this series (from 1802 to 1848)、シリーズ（1802年から1848年）最初の記事 : Peaceful
days and funs of a village head in 19th century, part 1（千葉県流山の名主日記）
The first article of the diary from 1849 to 1864, fifty-three
articles in total、1849年から1864年の日記（53記事）の最初の記事：
Yoshino’s daily life 01,
About Yoshino and background 吉野家とその頃
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