The term "Japanese Traditions" signifies the customs or practices that have been passed on from many generations in Japan. All of the above mentioned traditions have been passed on from many generations in Japan and are still very important to the Japanese.
Kimono & Yukata Wearing
The Japanese wear kimono to indicate the growth of a person, from being an infant all the way to old aged. Between 30 to a 100 days after the child is born, the family, comprising of the parents and grandparents would visit a shrine to report the child's birth. The baby is dressed in under-white kimono and if it is a girl, the girl would be dressed in a yuzen-coloured kimono while the boy would be dressed in a black kimono bearing the family's crest.
At the age of 20, young people would celebrate their coming-of-age ceremony, commemorating their adulthood. The coming of age day would be the 2nd Monday of January. For this occasion, girls would wear furisode (a kimono with long wearing sleeves) while boys will wear haori (half-coats) and hakama decorated with their family crests.
The furisode can only be worn by ladies who are not married. Once married, the Japanese woman would wear a tomesode (kimono with shorter flaps on the sleeves). Black tomesodes are reserved for important events as they bear the family's crest. Such events could be a family related marriage. At weddings, the bride would wear a pure white kimono known as a shiromuku, which represents the beginning of a journey.
Tea Ceremonies
The tea ceremony is a very important event to the Japanese. Before the guests arrive, the host would spend nearly a day just to make sure that everything is proper and nothing has been missed out.
During the ceremony, the host will pass the tea bowl to the main guest first who bows and accepts it. The main guest admires the bowl by raising and rotating it. He then drinks some of the tea, wipes the rim of the bowl, and passes it to the next guest who does the same thing. Once all the guests have finished, they would pass the bowl back to the host, which cleans it and they would start talking about tea ceremonies.
Geishas
A geisha is a female entertainer in Japan. They are situated mainly in Kyoto, whereby culture is very much appreciated and practiced in Japan. The Geishas perform for the notable people, such as ministers and in the past even emperors.
In the past, young girls were sold into the geisha life by their families until the mid-20th century and were often subject to the ritual of 'mizu-age,' whereby their virginity was sold to the highest bidder. Such practices were stopped after World War II and the geisha profession went into a steady decline. Today, if geisha are hired to entertain at a private party outside the upper eschelons of society, they are most likely to be seasoned veterans.
Japanese Gardens
Garden designing has become a very important tradition in Japan, it has even evolved to become a form of art. There are mainly 3 types of Japanese gardens, the Tsukiyama gardens (hill top), Karesansui gardens (dry gardens) and Chaniwa gardens (tea gardens). These gardens are usually built in a temple or near one.
The Tsukiyama gardens are built with the help of ponds, streams, hills, stones, flowers, bridges, trees and paths. There are varying sizes of garden as well, but the tsukiyama gardens are best viewed small.
The Tsukiyama Garden
The Karesansui gardens reproduce natural landscapes in a more abstract way by using stones, gravels, sand and moss to represent mountains, islands, boats. These gardens have been heavily influenced by zen and is mostly used for meditation.
The Chaniwa gardens are built for tea ceremony. They contain a tea house whereby tea ceremony can be conducted. They have stepping stones leading to the tea house, stone lanterns and basins whereby guests would purify themselves before engaging in the tea ceremony.
Hanetsuki
Hanetsuki is similar to badminton, but in Japan, it is also known as the Japanese badminton. This game is usually played during the new year which is the 1st of January for Japan.
It is played with a wooden paddle, and a shuttle. The game can be played in 2 ways, to keep the shuttle aloft from the ground or two people batting it back and forth. The ones who lost will have their faces marked with India ink.
It is believed that the long the shuttle is being kept away from the ground, the greater protection one will get from mosquitos .
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