Dreaming in Japan: Mt. Fuji, Hawk and Eggplants

Simin Uysal

I was in Japan last week on a surprise trip and I was deeply impressed by everything I've seen in this beatiful country, including dreams.

After being in Osaka for a few days, I traveled to Tokyo where I rose from an exciting dream on my first night. In Anatolia, the dream(s) you have on the first night in a new place are considered important and as an omen and I have the habit of paying special attention to such dreams for as long as I can remember.

In one part of the dream, while rushing towards a specific place, I came across a group of Japanese women in a courtyard I had to pass through. Although I was hurrying to accomplish a mission, I decided to stop and pay attention when I noticed they were sharing and talking about dreams. Noticing my presence, they came closer and asked me many detailed questions about dreams which I answered thoroughly. While talking with them, I noticed a non-Japanese old woman, who was extraordinarily tall, in a plain white long dress and very long white hair reaching her feet listening to and looking at me with great attention, nodding with an approving smile.  When I start talking about dreams, I don't know how to stop and at one point, I found myself teaching them how to share dreams: the Lightning Dreamwork Game by Robert Moss. They followed the instructions and liked the game. As I started running again in a hurry towards my destination, I paused for a moment and said "Don't forget that dreams require ACTION!"

I woke happy and excited from this dream on the morning of February 19th and while checking my emails, the first thing I noticed was that it was the first day of the Chinese New Year. 

I decided to follow my own advice in the dream and my action was to start learning about how the Japanese regarded dreams, especially the first dreams of the new year. I learned some very interesting things:

Remembering dreams especially on the first three days of the new year is important in Japan. Hatsuyume is the Japanese word for the first dream of the year and traditionally the dream foretells the luck of the dreamer in the following year. Since the night before the first day of the new year is passed with celebrations and without much sleep hatsuyume is the dream one has on the night of the first day of the new year. Therefore, in the traditional Japanese calender Hatsuyume is also the name of the second day of the year (the day after the night of the first dream).   

Since the Edo period, there is a belief that dreaming of Mt. Fuji, a hawk or an eggplant are especially lucky! It is not so difficult to understand why a sacred mountain or a hawk is considered lucky but the eggplant was a surprise. It is my favourite vegetable which I refer to as the "sultan of all vegetables" but I was in Japan! I found two theories explaining this: One suggests that this combination of Mt.Fuji, hawk and eggplant arose because they were the favourites of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The second theory which I like more, suggests that the word "nasu" means both eggplant and a great achievement.

It is also considered lucky to dream about the seven deities of good luck and visiting the temples of these gods during the new year holidays was a practice. It is believed that on the new year's eve, these deities in their treasure boat enter the port to bring good luck to the people. According to tradition, sleeping with the picture of these deities on a boat under one's pillow is a way to ensure that the first dream of the year is a lucky one. There is also set of pictures you can use as talismans for lucky first dreams:

 

The one the right with the Seven Gods of Luck is hung outside to attract good luck and the one on the right with the Crane and Tortoise for long life is hung in the bedroom. 

What if one has a bad dream on the first three days of the new year then? In that case, you can get rid of the bad dream and the bad luck by floating the picture with the gods down a river. And a tapir can help you, too! You can place a picture of a tapir under your pillow or use a pillow in shape of a tapir to sleep. Tapirs, although not found in Japan and became known through travellers' stories in ancient times, are believed to eat bad dreams! 

I learned all of this fun and interesting information as part of my action plan following the first dream of the New Year (Chinese) in a place I slept for the first time. The second part of the plan was sharing these in my blog. I think, my dream was a lucky one! Sweet dreams!