"No Four-Legged Beast Meat"…Layered New Year's Lunchbox 'Japanese Osechi' [Sunday Culture]

Prepared at Year-End, Enjoyed at New Year:
A Lunchbox Filled with Ingredients Wishing for Longevity and Prosperity

It is the great national holiday, Seollal. Perhaps because I have been busy with a hectic schedule at the beginning of the year, I truly appreciate the long holiday. I will finally be able to see my relatives’ faces after a long time.

A must-have food for Seollal is rice cake soup, or tteokguk. In Korea, eating tteokguk on New Year's symbolizes living long like the long rice cakes, earning a lot of money like the sliced rice cakes, and starting the year clean and fresh like the white broth. Foods eaten during the New Year carry special meanings like this.

Although neighboring Japan does not celebrate the Lunar New Year like Korea, they also have special New Year’s foods eaten on January 1st. Have you ever seen a dish served in a multi-compartment lunchbox? Today, I will tell you about Japan’s New Year food called Osechi.

Japanese New Year's food Osechi. Tokyu Department Store.

Osechi consists of various dishes such as black soybeans and shrimp, neatly stacked in layered boxes. In East Asian culture, Japan adopted the Chinese festival celebrating seasonal changes and expressing gratitude to the gods. The precious foods offered to the gods during this time were called '御節供 (Osechiku).' Osechiku refers to foods offered to the gods during festivals or seasonal events.

Originally a royal court ceremonial food, Osechiku began to be eaten by commoners from the Edo period onward, as the shogunate officially established five seasonal festivals. Because of this, all five days?including January 1st (New Year’s Day), Dano, Tanabata, and the mid-autumn festival?were days to eat Osechiku. Later, only the food eaten on January 1st, the most important day marking the start of the year, came to be called 'Osechi.'

In particular, Osechi is eaten without using fire, just by eating the food in the boxes. In Japan, using knives on auspicious days is avoided because it is believed to sever relationships. There is also a superstition that fire should not be used in the kitchen during the year-end and New Year period. This is interpreted as a way to avoid angering the fire god or to prevent fires from starting on the first day of the year. For these reasons, Osechi, prepared without knives or fire and eaten during the New Year, became established as the traditional New Year food.

An illustration depicting a family eating Osechi. Irastora.

The classic style is a five-tiered jubako (stacked food box) with different dishes placed in each compartment. One reason for using these boxes is to symbolize “layering of blessings,” and another is that this form is suitable for protecting and preserving the food from dust and insects. Since the food is simply placed and stacked, it is convenient to prepare many dishes with less effort.

The tiers are counted from the top down, from the first to the fifth floor, and each tier has a special meaning and generally fixed types of dishes. The top tier is called 'Iwaizakana (祝い肴),' meaning “dishes for celebration.” The second tier contains main dishes made with premium ingredients like seafood. The third tier holds dishes made with vinegar to prevent spoilage. The fourth tier contains simmered dishes cooked in pots. The bottom fifth tier is left empty. This symbolizes the wish for future growth and development, and also to hold the blessings given by the gods.

Each ingredient has its own meaning: herring roe symbolizes prosperity of descendants, black soybeans represent health and diligence, dried anchovies pray for a good harvest, mashed chestnuts called 'kurikinton' bring financial luck, boiled burdock root seasoned with a pestle symbolizes “opening of fortune,” and kelp rolls made by wrapping fish in kelp are essential dishes.

An illustration depicting rolled omelette, anchovies, kelp rolls, seasoned carrots and radish, herring roe, and burdock root included in Osechi. Illustration by Irastora.

Shrimp is included to wish for longevity until the beard grows long and the back bends. Similarly, sea bream and abalone are added. Did you know that sea bream lives longer than other fish, and abalone can live about 20 years? In any case, precious ingredients symbolizing longevity are included. Kamaboko, which is said to evoke the sunrise, is also added, along with various vegetables such as lotus root, taro, and bamboo shoots. In total, there are dozens of dishes typically included in Osechi.

One unusual point is that you might have noticed a missing ingredient: meat. Dishes made from four-legged animals like pigs or cows are not included in Osechi.

Osechi sold at Lawson, a Japanese convenience store chain. Lawson.

Honestly, just thinking about preparing these dishes is overwhelming. Since these foods require a lot of effort to make at home, by around November, it is common to see department store food courts accepting Osechi reservations. Convenience stores even take reservations and deliver the Osechi to your home.

In fact, this tradition has changed a lot to fit modern times. Nowadays, families are smaller and do not eat all five tiers, and since odd numbers symbolize luck in Japan, many households reduce the boxes to about three tiers. Also, more families are sharing the dishes at the dining table instead of using the jubako boxes.

In any case, New Year’s foods always require effort and care. The culture of celebrating the start of the year and sharing blessings seems to be similar in every country. I wish you all a happy New Year and a joyful holiday season.