The low winter sunshine pierces deep into an ancient hall, illuminating swirling dust motes. Moving swiftly on their knees across the tatami floor, an army of temple members, monks and helpers wearing white gloves, head scarves and face coverings beat the tatami mats with bamboo sticks, sending the dust billowing. Behind them, similarly white-clad attendants walk with two-metre-long fans, wafting the dust out of the hall.
This is the scene every mid-December at the annual osusuharai – soot sweeping – which takes place at Nishi Hongwanji in Kyoto. This year-end tradition – which dates back to the 15th century– sees over 500 volunteers gather to beat dust from tatami mats, to wipe floors and beams, and clean the statues and treasures of this important Pure Land Buddhist temple.
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Versions of this ‘big clean-up’ – known as ōsōji – take place in temples and shrines across Japan as the end of year approaches, serving the broad purpose of purifying and conditioning the body, mind and physical space for the year ahead.
‘In Zen Buddhism, year-end cleaning is considered a particularly important part of ascetic practice,’ says Chief Abbot Fujioka of Jōjuji temple in Kyoto. ‘By cleaning with a ‘mindless’ mind and taking time to face oneself, one may regain the ‘beginner’s mind’ in preparation for the new year. The practice embodies the Zen teaching of oneness: the mind and body are one.’
At Dairyūji in Oga, Akita, areas of the Sōtō Zen temple that do not get regular attention – such as the bell tower, storage rooms and ceilings – are deep-cleaned in preparation for ōmisoka, a celebration held on the last day of the year that includes Joya no Kane – the ringing of the temple bell 108 times. The number symbolises the Buddhist belief that humans have 108 desires, flaws and temptations; by ringing the bell 108 times believers may cleanse themselves of those imperfections. ‘In this way, the spiritual meaning of ōsōji aligns with Joya no Kane – to cleanse oneself and prepare to receive the blessings of the new year,’ says Miura Keno, Dairyūji’s 38th Head Priest.
For most, the ritual of ōsōji centres on the annual deep-clean that takes place in homes, schools, workplaces and public spaces countrywide, as the turning year approaches. This important tradition offers the chance for people to start the new year afresh, in clean, tidy and orderly surroundings and with a positive spirit.
In the workplace, office employees clean their desk areas, with some companies participating in ōsōji in the morning of their last working day, then hosting a nōkai party afterwards to reward staff for their work throughout the year.
In schools, the usual sōji tōban (cleaning duty) is enhanced in December with students deep-cleaning their classrooms, wiping windows and cleaning corners not covered by daily routines. One former student recalled how he and his classmates would vie for the honour of being chosen to re-wax the homeroom floor, and how satisfying it was to dispose of his dirty zōkin (cleaning cloth) at the end of term after a semester of use.
At Kusakabe Folk Crafts Museum in Takayama – a culturally important former merchant home dating from 1879 – staff must climb up onto the high interior beams to clean as part of their annual ōsōji, and polish wooden surfaces around the house with rice bran and egoma (perilla, or wild sesame) oil to enhance and protect them.
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In the domestic space, ōsōji is rooted in the Shinto tradition of cleansing the home and family altars to welcome the new year deity, Toshigami-sama. Ōsōji should be done and dusted by the 29 December – before the ‘year-end, year-beginning’ holidays (nenmatsu-nenshi) – to avoid unlucky dates and to allow enough time to adorn the house with New Year decorations (oshōgatsu-kazari). Leaving it until New Year’s Eve to finish cleaning and to start to decorate is known as ichiya-kazari (‘one-night decoration’) and is thought to bring bad luck. Furthermore, under no circumstances should brooms be used on New Year’s Day, lest you should sweep away the deity that has come so far.
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The basic tenets of ōsōji are tidying, decluttering and cleaning. Some people expedite their tasks in a day, while others work methodically around the house, cleaning room by room, in the weeks approaching new year. For specialist jobs, such as windows and curtains or kitchen and bathroom deep-cleans, professional cleaning companies, like Duskin, are popular – increasingly so for busy city workers. Retailers promote detergents and cleaning supplies with the distinctive ‘POP’ signs used to signal an important promotion.
Sorting and organizing belongings is an important part of ōsōji, with some channelling the mantra of Marie Kondo (Konmari) – Japan’s famous proponent of decluttering – to keep only those things that ‘spark joy’. Unwanted clothes, objects and furniture may be passed on for recycling to ‘Off’ stores (recycling shops) or to online second-hand marketplaces such as Mercari.
In modern ōsōji, personal maintenance is as important as physical cleaning: toothbrushes are replaced and hair appointments are booked. ‘My friends and I go to hair salons to kiyomeru [purify ourselves] – to welcome the new year comfortably and with good luck,’ says Okada Nahoko, a travel company owner based in Hyogo.
‘Ōsōji is not only about cleaning the house or office; it’s also about clearing the air with incense, washing the car, refreshing the fridge, buying a new diary, fixing your hair and body – all those things,’ says Nagaoka Goro, a communications professional who lives and works central Tokyo. ‘People want to start the new year in a new mood.’
‘Without ōsōji, the year doesn’t feel like it ends and starts on the right foot,’ agrees another retail professional. But ōsōji is certainly experiencing a shift. ‘I think my generation are still loyal to the idea of ōsōji – so I try to clean a bit more than usual – but my parents’ generation still do it properly.’