Hatsumōdë Video

Jinja Honchō has created a couple of advertising videos to encourage people to go to Hatsumōdë, visiting a jinja at the new year. There are 15 and 30 second edits, but I will just link to the longer one, because it does appear to include the whole of the shorter one.

It may not be obvious what all the images are, so here are some explanations.

00: Sunrise. Or maybe sunset played backwards, but it is representing sunrise. This is probably because the first sunrise of the new year is significant, but people do not typically go to a jinja to see it.

03: A torii. We are almost certainly looking out of the jinja, because the sun is supposed to be rising, and jinja normally face east or south, not west. Also, the power lines appear to be beyond the torii, although it is a bit hard to see in silhouette.

06: Kagami mochi. Round rice cakes offered at new year, traditionally to the kami of the year. The satsuma on top is a traditional decoration, and the prawn is a symbol of long life. The fish are tai, which are a symbol of good fortune. The fans are a symbol of prosperity (apparently because they get bigger), and the characters on them mean “celebration”. (There are two different forms of the kanji on different fans.) The gold ovals are in the form of Edo-period gold coins, and the writing is also a reference to wealth, although I can’t read all of it because there are things in the way. The red rectangles are prayers: safe travel, safe home, and business prosperity, from left to right. The one on the far left says “big entrance”, which is probably a reference to lots of good fortune coming in for the new year. (While this appears to be a new year standard, it’s not one I’m personally familiar with.) The other items are also good fortune, but I am not familiar with the particular customs.

07: This looks like a close-up of kadomatsu, decorations involving pine and bamboo that are placed outside homes and businesses. These are utterly overloaded with items associated with good fortune and the new year.

09: She is holding a Jingū Taima, and standing in front of the omamori and ofuda office at a jinja. Jinja Honchō has to include a reference to Jingū Taima, the ofuda from Isë Jingū, in this sort of video.

11: Walking along the sandō, sacred path, of a jinja. Very few people do hatsumōdë in a kimono, but she is wearing a winter overcoat. Given that this must have been filmed earlier in the year, she deserves a Oscar for not looking as though she is about to die of heat exhaustion. I cannot identify the jinja off hand, which will be a deliberate choice, but judging from the information board in the background, it is quite a big one.

13: Look! She’s happy to be here!

15: Rinsing her hands.

16: Drone footage! I hope they got permission… (Yes, they got permission. It is not exactly hard for Jinja Honchō to find a jinja where they can get permission to take drone footage.)

19: Approaching the prayer hall, the haiden. The two paper lanterns nearest the centre have the jinja’s name on, and have been deliberately blurred out.

The video was deleted between my drafting this article and posting it, and this section was replaced — I suspect there was too much visible on the side lanterns, because they have been turned or blurred. I think they actually reshot it, from a different, lower, angle, and that is why her overcoat has disappeared. This is important — partly for privacy reasons, but also because this video is definitely not supposed to encourage people to go to the jinja in video.

I hope this version doesn’t disappear as well…

20: Paying her respects.

27: “Go to a jinja near you for hatsumōdë” “Jinja Honchō”

This video is not primarily for viewing on YouTube, but for use as a television or streaming service advert. (Thus, Jinja Honchō will not be concerned by the view numbers.) Jinja and Jinjachō can get versions with different text on the final screen (according to the report in Jinja Shinpō of a meeting where these were mentioned), so it is possible to personalise it. However, the point of the original version is to encourage people to go to their local jinja, not a big and famous one (which is probably one reason why they chose to show a jinja without crowds of people). Excessive concentration on a few jinja is a problem for both the jinja that are neglected, and the ones that are over-popular.

There are no English versions of this video, partly because there are hardly any words, and partly because almost no-one who would watch this in English has a local jinja to visit for hatsumōdë.