Traditional Japanese Culture Quiz | Techniques, Tools and Cultural Roles, Set 2

New Year is the annual observance welcoming the toshigami, who brings a good harvest and good fortune, and kadomatsu are prepared as a fitting place for the god to dwell. That differs in season and purpose from sending off ancestral spirits at Obon, and the original purpose is neither botanical observation nor announcing a day of farm work.

The Niino Bon Odori is an Obon observance bound up with ancestor worship: the spirits are welcomed, danced with, and finally sent off. Singing in call and response without instruments is a local characteristic of the tradition; the event is not about harvest contests or martial victory.

Kangen is the instrumental ensemble of gagaku, played without dance with winds, strings and percussion. Bugaku is accompanied by dance and as a rule does not use strings, so it fits neither the ensemble described nor the absence of dance.

In rakugo the performer sits on a cushion and, with a limited set of props such as a fan and a hand towel, plays many characters alone. Ningyō jōruri is an art of puppets, chanter and shamisen, differing from the posture and means of expression described.

Maki-e is a decorative technique of sprinkling gold, silver and similar powders onto a design drawn in lacquer while the lacquer is still wet. It is not a matter of nailing on metal sheet; the act of "sprinkling" and the adhesion of the powder to the lacquer are what the name reflects.

In the nagashizuki method for hon-minoshi, the mould is rocked lengthwise and crosswise so that the kōzo fibers interlace evenly. Gathering the fibers at an edge or throwing them out serves neither the aim of avoiding unevenness nor the traditional process.

The steep roof of gasshō-zukuri answers heavy snowfall, and the large attic space it creates was put to use mainly for raising silkworms. The point is that a response to snow and a mountain village livelihood are combined in one house structure.

Karesansui is a garden style that represents landscape symbolically with white sand and stones rather than actual water. Raking patterns in white sand to stand for flowing water also satisfies the condition of building no pond or watercourse.

Combining the glutamic acid abundant in kombu with the inosinic acid abundant in katsuobushi produces a synergistic umami effect. The key is the combination of different umami compounds, not simply more salt.

A furoshiki can be knotted differently to suit the shape of what it wraps, and untied and used again afterwards. Making use of that versatility and reusability is what reduces disposable packaging for each item.