Requiem services for broken needles (hari-kuyo)
The word hari-kuyo means requiem services for broken needles that are held every year in Japan. These requiem services are very important for Japanese-style sewing. Japanese women used to sew their kimonos by themselves by hand. Even today, when almost everything is done by machines, kimonos are still only sewn by hand with needle and thread. This means that needles are very important sewing tools. Therefore Japanese people perform requiem services every year for needles that break or wear out from long use.
The requiem services for needles are held at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples throughout Japan on February 8th and December 8th every year. Some shrines and temples hold the requiem services on one of these two days while others hold them on both days. Many temples and shrines in Kyoto and nearby hold the requiem services on December 8th. People who sew take old, broken, and dull needles to shrines or temples on the day of hari-kuyo. Then, they stick the needles into cakes of tofu and konnyaku that are placed on altars in temples and shrines. Shinto priests recite prayers called norito, and Buddhist priests recite sutras called o-kyo. People put their hands together as is normally done in prayer to thank the needles and to comfort the spirits of the needles. They also pray that they can attain proficiency in sewing. The Awashima Shrine in Wakayama Prefecture and the Horinji Temple in Kyoto are widely known for their requiem services for needles.
Many Japanese women took part in hari-kuyo many years ago because women were expected to be good at sewing then. Today, however, there are few people who sew every day. Therefore, there are only a small number of people, including tailors, who participate in hari-kuyo.
There are also some people who believe that any soul dwelling within dead people, dead animals, and worn-out things including needles, dolls, and knives must be consoled. The requiem services for needles follow this belief. There have been requiem services for dolls and knives since ancient times.
tofu
Tofu is soybean curd.
konnyaku (devil's-tongue jelly)
Konnyaku is a kind of gelatinous food. It is made from the starch of devil's tongue. There are two types of konnyaku. One is rectangle-shaped konnyaku, which is used for the Japanese dish called oden. The other is noodle-shaped konnyaku that is called ito-konnyaku or shirataki in Japanese. The noodle-shaped konnyaku is used for Japanese-style pot dishes like sukiyaki .