お正月の英語【文化】年賀状、干支、お年玉、鏡餅、門松、甘酒 etc.

こんな方を対象にした記事です。

日本のお正月と言えば、一年の中で最も華々しい時期。グローバル化の著しい現代において、日本の伝統を身近に感じられる日々でもあります。せっかくならその面白さや美しさを外国人にも伝えたいですよね。

この記事では英英辞書や英語文献から学んだ日本文化に関するお正月用語を、実際の使用例を引用しながらまとめてみました。日本特有のものなのでさまざまな言い方がありますが、シンプル且つ使いやすいラインナップで揃えています。

とはいえ日本特有の物事を一言で完璧に言い表すのは難しいので、どんなものかを正確に伝えたい場合は説明を加えるのが大事。ググるといろいろ出てくるので、どんな風に表現されているか調べてみるのがおすすめです。

風習

シンプルな表現ですね。説明するときは「クリスマスカードみたいなもの」とでも付け加えれば伝わりやすいと思います。

Sending cards to family and friends towards the end of the year is something very common. In Japan as well, there’s the custom of sending Japanese New Year Cards, better known as “nengajo” (年賀状).

5 Unique Features of Japanese New Year Cards (Nengajo)

名詞「zodiac」は天文学用語で、星占いの星座（zodiac sign）がある空の帯のこと。干支も天文学に基づいています。

The Japanese zodiac (Juunishi) is divided into 12 blocks with each block containing a group of years.

The Twelve Signs of the Japanese Zodiac

あるいは「生まれ年の動物」といった言い方もわかりやすいですね。

Japanese birth year animals were originally adopted from Chinese astrology following the arrival of Buddhism in Japan in the mid-6th Century AD.

JAPANESE BIRTH YEAR ANIMALS

十二支の名はこちら。

• 子：Rat
• 丑：Ox
• 寅：Tiger
• 卯：Hare
• 辰：Dragon
• 巳：Snake
• 午：Horse
• 未：Sheep
• 申：Monkey
• 酉：Rooster
• 戌：Dog
• 亥：Boar

こちらもシンプルな表現。説明としては「大人から子どもへの贈りもの」であることを付け加えるといいですね。

Otoshidama (New Year Money) – Top 10 Must Knows

Otoshidama (New Year Money) – Top 10 Must Knows

Otoshidama is a monetary gift given to children by adult relatives.

Japanese Year-End Customs: Otoshidama - New Year’s Money for Kids

「ポチ袋（お年玉袋）」は「envelope（封筒）」です。形容詞「recutangular」や「small」なとど付け加えてもいいですね。

Pochibukuro is the Japanese word for the rectangular envelopes used for otoshidama. These envelopes open at the short end instead of the long end!

Otoshidama and Kakizome

「書道、習字」は 「Japanese calligraphy」。新年最初の書道が日本の伝統行事「書初め」なので上記のようになります。

Japanese calligraphy (書道, shodō) also called shūji (習字) is a form of calligraphy, or artistic writing, of the Japanese language.

Wikipedia「calligraphy」

Kakizome is the Japanese term of the first calligraphy of the year.

Otoshidama and Kakizome

もっと簡単に「writing」で表現されることも多いです。

This tradition is known as Kakizome: the first writing of a year.

Kakizome: The First Writing Of A Year

ちなみに「新年の抱負」は「New Year's resolution」と言います。

名詞「reunion」は「再会イベント」。例えば「高校の同窓会」は「a high school reunion」と言えます。ウィキペディアの説明にある名詞「extended family」は「親族一同」の意。

A family reunion is an occasion when many members of an extended family congregate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_reunion

例えば「新年に親戚で集まる」は以下のように言えます。

• We have a family reunion on on New Year's Day.
• I attend a family reunion in the new year.
• Our extended family gather to celebrate the beginning of a new year.

旧正月は、東南アジアの国々でかつて使われていた旧暦、つまり中国歴（Chinese calendar）のお正月です。

また、形容詞「Luner」は「月の」の意。中国歴は月の満ち欠け（に加えて太陽の動きも加味する）太陰太陽暦（lunisolar calendar）をベースにしたものです。

Chinese New Year[a] (or generally referred to as Lunar New Year globally) is the Chinese festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese calendar.

Wikipedia「Chinese New Year」

飾り

形容詞「stacked」で「積み上げられた」の意。

Japanese homes traditionally display a stacked pair of rounded rice cakes, known as kagami mochi, to welcome the New Year deities.

“Mochi” Rice Cake: A Food for All Seasons

名詞「bamboo」は「竹」、名詞「pine」は「松」の意。

Kadomatsu are an integral part of the Japanese New Year’s celebrations. These bamboo and pine decorations come in various sizes and are found outside shops and businesses across Japan.

Kadomatsu - Japanese New Year's Decorations

名詞「straw」は「藁」。しめ縄は神道における神祭具なので、形容詞「sacred（神聖な）」を付け加えて表現出来ます。

These include the preparation of shimekazari straw-rope decorations, which are put up in holy places fit for receiving Toshigami in order to encourage the deity's visit.

Traditional Japanese Shimekazari Straw-rope Decorations

“Shimenawa”: The Sacred Rope

“Shimenawa”: The Sacred Rope

遊び

それぞれ正確に伝えたい場合は説明が必要になってきます。

Karuta (かるた, from Portuguese carta ["card"])[1] are Japanese playing cards.

Hanafuda (Japanese: 花札, lit. flower cards, also called Hanakaruta) are 48 card decks with flower designs originating from the early 19th century.

Uta-garuta (歌ガルタ, lit. "poetry karuta") is a card game in which 100 waka poems are written on two sets of 100 cards:

Wikipedia「Karuta」

英語には決まった単語がありません。サイコロ（dice）を使うゲームということを伝える感じになります。

Sugoroku is a Japanese board game which has become a tradition for kids to play during the New Year’s Day.

The Game Sugoroku: New Year’s Japanese Board Games

32 Dice Board Game Review and Rules

32 Dice Board Game Review and Rules

そのままですね。

Fukubukuro (福袋, [ɸɯkɯbɯkɯɾo], "lucky bag") is a Japanese New Year custom in which merchants make grab bags filled with unknown random contents and sell them for a substantial discount, usually 50% or more off the list price of the items contained within.

Wikipedia「Fukubukuro」

飲食物

これは説明が難しいですが、とりあえず「なんか伝統料理がいっぱい入ってる箱」ということが伝わればいいと思います。

Osechi ryori, said to have begun in the Heian era (from 794), is a set of small, traditional dishes served in beautiful three- or four-layered lacquer bento boxes called jubako, placed at the center of the table on New Year’s Eve and remaining there through Jan.

Osechi Ryori: The Hidden Meanings Behind Japanese New Year Food

Osechi ryori is a sort of eclectic collection of small cold dishes, each denoting a special meaning and wish for the upcoming year.

The meaning behind each item in ‘osechi’ — New Year cuisine

Osechi food is made up of many small items of food, each of which have some kind of meaning

Impress your hosts with osechi meanings

おせちの具材はこんな感じ。

• 黒豆：black beans
• 数の子：herring roe
• かまぼこ：a processed seafood
• 栗きんとん：sweet potato and chestnuts
• こんにゃく：konnyaku potato, devil's tongue, voodoo lily, snake palm, , elephant yam
• なます：pickled daikon and carrot
• 田作り：sardines simmered in mirin
• 出し巻き卵：Japanese omelette

いろいろな言い方が出来ますが「発酵したお米の甘い飲みもの」で90パーセントくらいは伝わるかと。

Horaiya’s Amazake is a fermented rice drink that is popular in Japan for its health and beauty benefits.

ABOUT HORAIYA AMAZAKE

「お餅が入ったスープ」だということを伝えましょう。

Zōni (雑煮), often with the honorific "o-" as o-zōni, is a Japanese soup containing mochi rice cakes.

Wikipedia「Zōni 」

Zoni New Year's Soup
Zoni is a soup with rice cakes that is an indispensable part of a Japanese New Year.

Zoni New Year's Soup

名詞「porridge」は「オートミールをミルクや水で煮たもの」。お粥はお米なので「rice」がつきます。

The Festival of Seven Herbs or Nanakusa no sekku (Japanese: 七草の節句) is the long-standing Japanese custom of eating seven-herb rice porridge (nanakusa-gayu) on January 7 (Jinjitsu).

Wikipedia「Nanakusa-no-sekku」

以上になります。お正月の話をする際は、この記事で紹介したワードを使ってお話してみてください。