Osechi Ryori (おせち料理): Japanese New Year’s Cuisine

Osechi ryori has an array of colorful customary dishes packed together in special 3-layered boxes called jubako (重箱), but these days people prepare these traditional dishes and arrange them using modern tableware. Many of the dishes are either dried or contain a lot of sugar or vinegar to preserve the food and enough is made to last a few days since New Year’s is a time for rest.

As the most important customary meal of the year, each dish serves as a symbol or wish for the coming year has a meaning attached:

Kuromame (sweetened black beans), In Japanese, the word for bean, “mame,”is a homonym for “health” and “diligence”

Kazunoko (herring roe) Herring roe in Japanese is read as kazu (number) and ko (child) symbolizes a wish for many children (fertility).

Tazukuri (dried anchovies) Tazukuri literally translates as “making rice crops” and eating these tiny fish on New Year’s symbolizes abundant harvest (In the olden days, anchovies were used as fertilizers).

Goubo (burdock root seasoned with sesame or vinegar) Burdock is eaten as a wish for good health and an abundant harvest because the roots of the burdock plant grow deep into the ground and represent a crane (the symbol of a fruitful year),

Datemaki (sweet omelet mixed with fish paste or shrimp) Datemaki looks like a scroll so eating this dish on New Year’s is a wish for scholarship and culture.

Kohaku Kamaboko (Japanese fishcake) The pink (red) and white kamaboko are auspicious colors in Japan and resemble the first sunrise of the New Year. Color red is believed to be a talisman against evil and white signifies purity

Kurikinton (sweet chestnuts) The bright yellow gold color symbolized wealth.

Tai (grilled red seabream) Tai means luck because it rhymes with medetai (めでたい, congratulatory). Tai as a king of fish, is also eaten in other special occasions such as weddings or winning sumo wrestling championship.

Ebi (shrimp) Ebi signify old people because of its curved body, so eating them is believed to symbolize longevity.

Renkon (vinegar lotus root) Lotus root, enable you to look through its many holes in it, is a symbol of an unobstructed view of the future

Kohaku Namasu (red and white vinegar daikon and carrots) Red and white is a persistent color scheme in many osechi dishes, symbolizing a good omen

Konbu Maki (dried herring wrapped in seaweed) The word “konbu" means “happiness”. Much like the rolled shape of datemaki, the shape of konbu maki symbolizes a wish for scholarship and culture.

Go ahead and impress your Japanese friends with the various osechi meanings