HISTORY
An Insightful History of Cleanliness Tradition Followed in Japan
Folklore’s behind the inception of tidying up rituals
Uncleaned surroundings irritate. At home or other places, an environment burdened with filths births unhealthy living. Through uncleanest source born are the diseases. It costs more when its ultimate effects result in the loss of lives. And none among us would like welcoming sickening situations. Nor celebrate infections as our favorite companions.
Keeping every spot clean is as necessary as home cleaning. Amidst painful hours of the pandemic, my mother’s passion for cleaning reached peaks. Tidying up the home, she ensured unwanted stuff finds its way straight into the bin. Minimalism tides up life and declutters over-grown spaces.
Pandemic awakening also gave thrust to cleanliness. Once again, it reminded us how important hygiene and sanitization are. Starting from personal care to integrated waste management, the simple practice of behavioral influence to reduce risks gained momentum. With these cleaning episodes, the tradition of cleaning and tidying up seems not anew but has a great history associated.
In Japanese culture, the art of cleaning struck since ancient times. Ever since the Japanese cultural importance of hygiene has touched an evergreen status. Japan’s punctiliousness in the life-changing magic of cleaning has the heart of many.
History of Japanese ritual of cleaning and tidying up
Japan has prominence for cleanliness. In the Japanese book, Engishiki dating back to 927 A.D, that documents laws and regulations of the Engi Era, the texts of the book also highlight instructions for the annual cleaning of Kyoto’s Royal Palace.
The inception of cleaning practices carried a purpose. These rituals intended to breeze air through the ill environment. With that, the sacred reality spoke to dust the yearly bad omens and evil spirits to look forward to a fresh start.
The cleaning tradition in Japan had religious inclinations. In the early thirteenth century, home cleaning that imbibed spiritual inclinations was the Shinto Gods’ principle because these heavenly deities hated filth or dirt. In the Shinto shrines of Japan, washing hands before praying is essential. This ritual and religious act affirm a degree of sacredness.
In addition to that, Japanese Buddhism mentions that a person who is in their pursuit of spirituality must clean as a path to well-being. At temples in Japan, cleaning is a daily morning exercise. There, the Buddhist monks believe each of the cleaning acts can heal, and possibly a person can master themselves by mastering their spaces. The practice of cleaning, therefore, is powerful.
From the past, the ritual crossed generations. The Japanese people care much to keep clean. They share the customary responsibility of tidying — eliminate mess from their settings both physically and mentally.
Annual cleaning event “Osoji” for the Japanese new year
Across various cultures spanned over different periods, the traditions have religious devotions attached. In some Asian cultures, extensive cleaning is performed during “Diwali — festival of lights” to welcome Hindu Goddess Lakshmi, known as the goddess of good luck, wealth, and purity.
Likewise, to welcome the new year with a fresh start, the Japanese practice the ritual “Osoji,” translated as big cleaning/cleanup. The event centers on the importance of house cleaning and dumping off the negative vibes.
Japanese people devoted much of their December month to cleaning, primarily to extend offerings to Toshigami-sama, the Japanese New Year God. This Shinto deity brings abundance and happiness to each family during Oshogatsu, Japan’s New Year. Osoji, a classical practice, preaches people to clean with intention. It implies ending up our destructive behaviors or even toxic relations.
We can trace the roots of Osoji to another year-end cleaning ritual of Japan called “Susu-harai” or “dusting off the soot away.” During the times when fires from wood-stokes, fireplaces, or lightning lamps created dark specks of dust on the walls, those dirtied and uncleaned spots got broomed away. Mainly the Susu-harai tradition played a crucial role in highlighting the importance of sweeping off the soots.
Besides that tradition, Osoji employed throwing away the clutters like broken furniture, worn-out clothes, and irreparable electronics to create space for things that matter. Also, the ancient Japanese believed in divine spirits named “kami” that resided everywhere — from plants, animals to even the landscape. When believers venerated or recognized these supernatural deities, their immediate impact was the “kami way,” where people placed themselves in the divine natural and supernatural order.
In Japanese folklore, age-old superstitions in context to tsukumogami, the animated household objects that have attained kami or spirits, exist. Often during the middle ages, ancient people believed that if the old materials like clothes are kept for longer durations or the worn-out housewares are not discarded, the ghostly spirits arising from them might destroy the surroundings.
To prevent such rampage, some jinja ceremonies are organized to console the unusable and ruptured items to this day. But, spirits born from these human-made materials were not evil; instead, they were mostly harmless. In humor, people used such a situation to prank others and finally laughed it off. Sometimes, the folklore establishes an arena of humorous gatherings beyond its common tradition of outlining insightful preachings.
Japanese modern generations cleaning rituals
Cleaning practice involves adapting to routines where we sweep, declutter excess baggage, dust, polish, wash, and welcome tidiness, guiding us to a purposeful way of living. Rather than considering it as a mandatory chore, cleaning must be regarded as a meaningful ritual. Off the late, the uninvited Covid-19 circumstances have pressured us in embracing cleanliness for good.
“When people are in a cleaner environment, they undeniably can concentrate better and are therefore more likely to succeed,” as per an article published by the Japan Times. The cluttered spaces not only cause anxiety but can make a person feel overwhelmed, too.
The history of tidying up has its firm roots embedded even among younger generations of Japan. It is seen that children in elementary and high schools actively participate in the cleansing rituals. Japanese students inculcate the daily routine of classroom cleaning, whereas not much of this influential tradition remains witnessed across other cultures.
Although educational institutions hire janitors to clean bathrooms or other common areas at large, however even today, students are the ones endowed with the responsibility of cleaning their classrooms. The simple reason is that the students who help clean and tidy classrooms at the end of the day attain innovative insights, understand valuable life skills, and become responsible.
In Japan, there’s a tradition where students themselves clean their schools. For just fifteen minutes at the end of the day, students use brooms, vacuums, and mop the hallways and other school spaces. This tradition is deduced from seventeenth-century philosophy that fables — the clear mind springs up from cleaning and clearing the surroundings. As a consequence of this ancestral tradition, we witness Japan as a whole is so clean.
Practicing cleanliness and going clean is a way of showing gratitude to people and objects that enables learning. Outside formal education, students and people, in general, are encouraged to stop creating a mess first hand and respect their surroundings for living in harmony with the environment.
Despite the long history of Osoji, this annual cleaning ritual is on the wane. Back in the classical days, people engaged with this cultural tradition and society as a sum celebrated New Year’s welcoming. Osoji played a crucial role in brightening people’s life by decluttering the uncleaned.
Comparing the past and present, the decline of the ritual accords to lifestyle changes and changing demographic conditions. The modern technological age combined with rapid lifestyle advancements is uprooting the essence of ancient practices.
Then comes the painful Covid-19 Pandemic. The present grim scenario once again revived history and torched light to maintaining cleanliness, personal hygiene, and keeping the surroundings clean. This global health crisis made every country plus Japan inculcate ascetic values and actions that discourage wasteful habits and develop the ones that build self and environment.
