=New Year in Modern Japan=.--Although most of the New Year's observances in modern Japan belong to the province of popular magic rather than of Shinto, some general account of them may not be out of place here. The preparations begin on the thirteenth day of the last month, which is therefore called _koto-hajime_ (beginning of things). On this day people eat _okotojiru_, a kind of stew, whose ingredients are generally red beans, potatoes, mushrooms, sliced fish, and a root called _konnyaku_. Presents of money are made to servants at this time. About the same date there is a partly real, partly ceremonial house-cleaning called _susu-harahi_ (soot-sweeping). The other preparations for the New Year consist in decorating the front entrance by planting at each side of it small fir-trees, with which bamboos are frequently joined. Both of these symbolize an ever-green prosperity. A _shimenaha_ is hung over the door or gate, attached to which are fern leaves, and _yudzuri-ha_ (_Daphniphyllum macropodum_) with _daidai_ (a kind of bitter orange). _Daidai_ also means ages, generations, so that this is a sort of punning prayer for long life and the continuance of the family. The prawn, which forms part of the decorations, is supposed by its curved back to suggest old age. Sometimes holly leaves, of which the prickles are thought, as in Europe, obnoxious to demons, bean pods, and a head of a salt sardine (_ihashi_) are added. On the domestic shrine is placed an offering of unleavened cakes of glutinous pounded rice, the preparation of which is a matter for much fun and excitement. These cakes are called _kagami-mochi_, or mirror-cakes, on account of their shape, which is that of a flattened sphere. There are two of them. One is said to represent the sun, the _yō_, or male principle of Chinese philosophy, the parent and the husband, while the other is put for the moon, the female principle, the child and the wife. The _kagami-mochi_ is also called the _ha-gatame mochi_ (tooth-hardening cake) because it fortifies the constitution. The explanation given is that the Chinese character for _ha_, "tooth," also means "age." The _tsuina_ on the last day of the year is described above. The first act of the New Year is for the _toshi-otoko_ to proceed at dawn to the well or stream whence the household water is supplied. He throws into it a small offering of rice, and draws water in a new pail crowned with _shime-naha_. To drink this water, called _waka-midzu_ or young water, brings luck and exemption from disease during the year.