65

Bundle 65: Lots of Luck

The collection reveals copious ways in which the Japanese try to usher in luck, wealth, and good harvests. They offer sacred mochi to the gods. Flattening it brings longevity, eating it on a kid's first birthday helps the child grow, and coloring mochi red repels evil. People rely on fortune telling, using everything from palms, blood types, and facial features to birth dates, dreams, and even the shape of lingering snow. Folks treat certain birthdays as auspicious, thanks to visual wordplay with kanji. Finally, because turtles symbolize luck and longevity, people use 亀 (turtle) in shop names.
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寿
longevity
JOK: 1351
See how to invoke a god's name while saying, "Granddad is fully smiling.” Discover a waterfall that prolongs life. Unpack the riddles inherent in terms for auspicious birthdays. Learn to say, "He lived to a ripe old age," "The human lifespan has become twice as long as before," "Here's to a long and happy life!" and “For eons humans have longed for perpetual youth and longevity.”
占
occupy
JOK: 1491
Both the prehistoric and modern worlds have influenced 占, producing a strange brew of military behavior, money making, and the occult! Find out about scads of divination modalities. Also learn to say, "This desk takes up too much room," "The rebels have captured the broadcasting station," "Please refrain from buying up all the goods," and "Let me tell your fortune with cards."
亀
turtle
JOK: 1985
People universally associate turtles with slowness. The Japanese do, too, but they've taken turtle symbolism quite a bit further. They also see these ponderous animals as representing luck, longevity, wisdom, experience, divisiveness, ugliness, and sexual attractiveness! Ugliness and sexual attractiveness?! Quite a range! As if all that weren't enough, 亀 is also a radical and a new addition to the Joyo set, as of 2010.
餅
mochi
JOK: 2105
Explore the soft, sticky confections known as mochi, discovering their use in religious rituals, their connection to the new year, and their symbolism. Also see how these sweets relate to the following statements: "She fell on her rear," "This is what they call a lucky break," "Jealousy is the enemy of friendship," and "The concept of reform has become pointless."
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