LITTLE NEW YEAR
Before the New Year celebrations wrap up, there is one more observance to be made on January 15th.
Tōrin-in preserves the tradition of 'Koshōgatsu' (小正月 'Little New Year'), a once-popular ritual in rural areas, where people would pray for good harvests.
For most communities the New Year began with the first full moon of the first month.
It was customary to eat 'azuki-gayu' (小豆粥), a rice gruel mixed with red adzuki beans, for health and to exorcise evil spirits.
Red was considered a protective colour, especially against disease.
Tōrin-in (東林院), a sub-temple of Myōshin-ji (妙心寺), is named after Donglin Temple (東林寺) in China.
Thanks to a famed sal tree (now sadly dead) that once grew in the grounds, Tōrin-in is commonly known as 'Sarasōju-no-tera' (沙羅双樹の寺 the 'Sal Tree Temple').
In part thanks to the current head, Nishikawa Genbō (西川玄房 *somewhat of a celebrity in his own right*), Tōrin-in has become well known for its (vegetarian) 'devotional cuisine'.
Fresh vegetables are grown behind the temple, and classes are held each Tuesday.
This rather wonderful looking dish is 'jabara konbu' (蛇腹昆布). Kelp (昆布 'konbu') is braided into a shape known as 'jabara' and then fried.
'Jabara' (昆布) can be translated as "snake's belly", and is used to describe things like the bellows of an accordion.
Tōrin-in celebrates Koshōgatsu during the 2nd half of January (小豆粥で初春を祝う会).
Guests are first served 'fuku-cha' (福茶), a tea made with the year's first drawn water.
Plums, resistant to the cold and a symbol of longevity, are eaten to cleanse the mouth and dispel any 'evil'.
At the heart of the Koshōgatsu meal is azuki rice gruel.
As Tōrin-in is a zen temple there are certain rituals to be observed before eating.
One of these is 'saba' (生飯), taking a few grains of rice (typically with right forefinger and thumb) as a symbolic 'offering to other beings'.
Each guest is offered about 7 cooked grains on a 'saba plate' (さば器), which are added to the gruel and eaten.
A monk later makes an offering of raw rice to the garden to complete the 'saba' ritual.
At death beings are reborn into 1 of 6 Buddhist realms. One of these is called the 'Realm of Hungry Ghosts' (餓鬼道)...occupied by people corrupted by desire, greed, anger and ignorance in life.
The saba ritual originated as food set aside to ease the suffering of these ghosts.
Slowly these offerings were made not only to hungry ghosts, but 'life' in general (including birds, beasts and plants).
It is a message of thanks for the food consumed, and consideration for the world's hungry.
Looks so beautiful, and as a vegetarian I would love to sample the devotional cuisine one day... 