The Face of Time - POV - Aarhus Universitet

A Danish Journal of Film Studies 65
ohagi is made and enjoyed, one finds that they all precede something
that is expected to produce a big change. A certain epoch is over and
a new one will start. Thus it is interpreted as the symbol of a
decisive change: what is inside moves outside and what has been
outside disappears into the inside. Vernal and autumnal equinox
days have traditionally been celebrated with ohagi. The end of
winter and the beginning of spring brings about enormous changes
in nature and thus in people's everyday lives. In the same way, the
end of the summer gives way to autumn. In rural society this means
the harvest and preparation for a long winter. The earth that had
expanded in the period of growth shrinks and returns to a time of
rest (Okuyama 2001: 303-304).
Whether this explanation is only speculative or corresponds to
reality is not that important in this context; in any case it is a
beautiful one. In Japanese traditions, which are very much coloured
by their rural origin, ohagi marks the end of something and
celebrates the new that is about to arrive. It is white and red, the
colours that symbolize an auspicious occasion. They symbolise a
short temporal pause, where people stop and reflect, feeling
gratitude for what is ending and hoping for the future. Retrospectively
for Tarô, his mother's bean cakes did not only mark the
beginning of his new school life, but also the beginning of a new and
special friendship, the one with Mihara O-Yoshi.
The custom of eating bean cakes on occasions that mark a turning
point in the course of nature or a person's life is still alive today. The
beginning of spring and autumn, certain events that mark the work
in the rice fields, a grandchild's first school day, New Year and so
on, are reasons for my co-viewers to make ohagi as they know it
from their childhood days. Do you make them all yourself? Yes, of