Holiday Festivities in a Time-Honored Style

Don’t sweep your house on New Year’s Day, an ancient Japanese belief admonishes. Or run the vacuum cleaner and dishwasher, one might also assume.

According to time-honored custom, the Japanese gods of good luck will be slipping into your home Sunday morning bringing peace and good fortune for another year. And they’re easily frightened away by excessive domestic bustle.

So leave the remains of tonight’s jollity in peace and quiet and celebrate New Year’s Day the traditional Japanese way.

At the New Otani Hotel in Little Tokyo, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Japanese-Americans and visitors curious about a different culture will commemorate Japan’s biggest and most important holiday with traditional ceremonies, special foods, crafts for sale, dances and demonstrations.

In ancient days, the weeklong Japanese New Year celebration was tied to the seasons. Thus the date varied from year to year. But international business is no respecter of tradition and now New Year’s falls on Jan. 1, as in the West. Still, the ancient customs and their meanings continue.

‘More Spiritual Holiday’

“New Year’s is a more spiritual holiday in Japan than here,” Kenji Yosimoto, hotel director, said. “It’s a time for new beginnings, a rebirth, for family reunions.” The New Otani, a focal point in the revitalization of the Little Tokyo area, is hosting the festivities for the ninth year as part of its Japanese Cultural Events program.

On New Year’s Day, the festivities begin with the sake barrel-breaking ceremony, performed on the flagstone patio in the hotel’s roof garden.

There, four stories up among sculptured flower beds, rough rocks, waterfalls and grassy areas shaded by lacy trees, a small stage has been erected to hold the 60-gallon sake (rice wine) barrel. The merrymakers punch a hole in the top, then offer a toast to good health and prosperity all around.

Meanwhile, the mochi making begins, as precooked rice is placed in a large wooden bowl and pounded to a thick, gooey paste with wood mallets. In Japan, the mochi is made into flat, round cakes and eaten throughout the holiday week.

Essential to the sake toasting and mochi pounding are the loud and rhythmic sounds of a Taiko Drummer troupe, this year a dozen young people ages 5 to 20 from the Zen Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo, dressed in ancient costumes. Russell Ruscigno, hotel food and beverage manager said: The drums look like “big tom-toms,” and make a terrific noise.

For Smart Kids

While the drummers play, two men in a lion’s head costume dance about, gently biting the heads of any children in the crowd. This ritual is much to be desired, as it assures that the children will be smart.

After the opening ceremonies, food booths beside the pond sell hot traditional foods for $3 a bowl: yakisoba, or hot, fried Japanese noodles; yakitori, which is spiced, grilled chicken pieces prepared and served on a skewer, and zoni, a hot soup made with fish broth and the mochi.

Afterward, visitors may wander through the garden, or down to the banquet level or lobby, where other activities take place in the afternoon.

At 12:30 p.m. in the garden, badminton players demonstrate hanetsuki, a Japanese version of the game, played with wooden paddles and metal shuttlecocks.

Authentic Ceremony

Meanwhile, starting at 1 p.m. in the lobby, an authentic teahouse ceremony will demonstrate the proper etiquette for performing the Urasenke School’s traditional tea ceremony. You can watch the ceremony, or, for $3, order tea and cakes and receive personal instruction on formal tea drinking from kimonoed ladies.

At noon, samurai swordsmen perform martial-arts techniques in the ballroom. At 1 p.m., those who want to try on a kimono or peek at the required traditional underwear can join the demonstration in the Monticello Room.

Board-game lovers will enjoy the Go demonstration in the Two Seasons Conference Room at noon, and the Go Tournament, from 1 to 3 p.m., organized and directed by computer expert and Go enthusiast Richard Dolan. (The Go board is a square marked with parallel lines running north-south and east-west; the black-and-white pieces, or “stones,” are placed on the intersections.)

What began five years ago as a demonstration of the game’s rules and basic strategy has grown, Dolan said, into “a large amusement tournament,” attracting local competitors.

Drop-In Players

For these players, Dolan provides 15 boards. To encourage drop-in players during the day, he awards prizes to each game winner. For beginners, he demonstrates moves with magnetic stones on a oversize metal board hung vertically for easy viewing.

At the other end of the foyer, the Japanese marketplace sells gifts and crafts. There are clay dolls, sumie (brush and ink painting), Imari china from Arita, Japanese stained glass, a Temari booth (toy balls made of multicolored wound string) and China dolls in costume.

The New Otani Hotel is at 1st and Los Angeles streets in downtown Los Angeles. A parking garage with hourly rates is below street level; take the elevator to the roof garden. There is no admission charge to the festival, but visitors are almost guaranteed a propitious and prosperous New Year.