初夢: The first dream of the year

新年あけましておめでとうございます。　Happy New Year!

This is the 初レッスン　(はつれっすん　hatsu ressun) - first lesson of the year.

The first dream of the year, the one you dream on the night of January 1st going into the 2nd (see notes below) is called 初夢　(はつゆめ　hatsuyume), and is supposed to fortell how good your year will be. Prior to the Edo period, lucky dreams centered around the idea of a treasure ship （宝船　たからぶね　takarabune). The belief that sleeping with the picture of a 宝船　under your pillow will bring you good dreams is still around, and you can buy such pictures, or various things that a lucky treasure ship would have carried (a golden hammer, a crane, etc.), as well as the 七福神　(しちふくじん、shichifukujin), the 7 lucky gods.

In the Edo period, lucky things to dream about became rather specific. These lucky things to dream about are still quoted to this day:

一富士、二鷹、三茄子 (いちふじ、にたか、さんなすび; ichi-fuji, ni-taka, san-nasubi): No. 1 is Mt. Fuji, no. 2 is eagles, no. 3 is eggplant (aubergine). Mt. Fuji or Fuji-san is such a sacred symbol in Japanese lore that it's understandable that it's number 1. And eagles - regal, soaring, powerful birds, ok. But...eggplants? Well, it seems that eggplants became 'lucky' because they the region where the shogunate Ieyasu family came from, Suruga (present day Shizuoka prefecture) was a major eggplant growing area. Smart marketing!

And for 4, 5 and 6 -

四扇、五たばこ、六座頭 (よんおうぎ、ごたばこ、ろくざとう; yon-ougi, go-tabako, roku-zatou): No. 4 is fans, used for dancing at festive events. No. 5 is tobacco, also considered festive because apparently geisha liked to smoke. And finally, no. 6 is a zatou or a blind Buddhist priest or monk and musician (or minstrel). Such musicians, often playing a 琵琶 (びわ　biwa), a sort of mandolin or lute (Wikipedia) were also fixtures at festive events. (They wandered around from place to place, playing their music for food and money, sort of like minstrels or troubadors in medieval Europe.)

So, if you can manage to dream about an eagle flying over Mr. Fuji, a feast with a dish of eggplant, and geisha with fans smoking pipes as they dance to the music played by a blind Buddhist monk - well, you should have a fantastic year!

The most useful word from this lesson is

夢　(ゆめ　yume, pronounced yu-MEH not YU-me) - dream.

Also pay attention to the use of 初　- meaning first. （初レッスン、初夢）

(Notes: The night when you are supposed to dream your First Dream seems to differ depending on who you are listening to. Some say it's the night of New Year's Eve - New Year, or 31st-1st; others say 1st-2nd, and still others say 2nd-3rd. I think the night of the 1st-2nd makes the most sense, so I'm sticking to that.)