When saying “Japanese New Year Anniversary” in Japanese, we say “Shogatsu” or “Oshogatsu”.
Why are there two ways to call it?
Is there another way to call it?
Today, I introduce a complicated mysterious Japanese culture through Oshogatsu.
Japanese society that appears in words | Oshogatsu or Shogatsu
Recent Japanese society is changing.
But ancient Japanese society was a society that cherished the hierarchical relationship at all.
Is it younger or older? Is it superior or inferior?
It was a society that cherished whether which is upper and which is lower.
For example, even words expressing brothers.
The person who was born early is called “Ani” ,
The person who was born late is called “Otouto”, and clearly distinguishes between a upper and a lower.
Those who were born the second among the three brothers are called “Ani”, and are called “Otouto”.
Even sisters,
The person who was born early is called “Ane” ,
The person who was born late is called “Imouto”,
This is because it is decided whether the birth order is upper or lower.
It is interesting, isn’t it?
Distinction between Japanese name and gender | Oshogatsu or Shogatsu
By the way, “Ani” and “Ane”, “Otouto” and “Imouto” feel sounds similar,
but Japan is not a society that clearly distinguishes male nouns and female nouns.
However, there is a deep relationship between the end of a person’s name and sex, such as “Masao” which is the name of a man and “Masako” which is the name of a woman.
This is the same as distinguishing Italian person names “Mario” and “Maria”.
However, most of the Japanese may be have never thought that the names of famous Japanese character “Mario” and virgin “Maria” are in the relationship between “Masao” and “Masako”.
I think this situation is very funny.
What is the difference between Shogatsu and Oshogatsu?
In this way, it is said that hierarchical relationships is important for Japanese society.
The difference between “Shogatsu” and “Oshogatsu” is the difference brought up by this culture from the upper-lower relationship.
Although the contents which are expressed are almost the same,
If you do not know that hierarchical relationships is important for Japanese society,
you can not understand this difference in the real sense.
So how is it different? The rest is next time.
By putting “o” or “go” at the beginning of a word,
it becomes the expression of the words expressing things carefully,
it means respect for superior.
The meaning is the same whether “o” or “go”.
Whether to attach “o” or “go” is a sensation of the Japanese.
For example, Japanese peoples say “Oshogatsu”, but they will not say “Goshogatsu”.
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