TodayTools

Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) blessings and prayers

00 days

Swipe up for more cards

Japanese New Year wishes and Akemashite omedetou messages for Shogatsu, in English and Japanese: for family, friends, colleagues and New Year cards.

135 wishes · 2 languages · 3 photo designs · Updated October 2026

Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) blessings and prayers (10)

  • May the new year bring you good health, peace and great fortune.

  • May the gods of good luck smile on your home this year.

  • May your prayers at hatsumode be heard and your path be safe.

  • Wishing you a long life, like the crane and the tortoise.

  • May this year be calm, bright and full of quiet joys.

  • May every day of the new year be as pure as the first light.

  • May your family be safe, healthy and together all year.

  • May your wishes come true, one by one, through the year.

  • May the new year sweep away the old troubles and bring you fresh hope.

  • May the light of the first sunrise guide you through the year.

Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes images

Ready pictures to save or send. Tap Add my name to make one yours.

Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes images16

Free to download and share. Tap Add my name to put your name on one.

  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: First sunrise, fresh start.
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: Wishing our family a year as bright as the first sunrise.
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: 謹んで新春のお慶びを申し上げます。本年も変わらぬご愛顧をお願い申し上げます。
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: May your omikuji say great luck and your year prove it right.
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: May every day of the new year be as pure as the first light.
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: Let us eat ozoni together and plan our year of adventures.
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: May the new year bring you good health and new achievements.
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: あけましておめでとうございます。本年もどうぞよろしくお願いいたします。
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: You did a great job helping clean the house. Happy New Year.
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: Happy New Year from all of us. We will reopen on 4 January.
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: We wish you and your family a happy and prosperous New Year.
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: First dream of the year: I forgot to send a nengajo to my boss.
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: 新年あけましておめでとうございます。皆様のご健康をお祈りします。
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: Pine, bamboo and plum.
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: Akemashite omedetou. May our family stay healthy and close all year.
  • Shogatsu (Japanese New Year) wishes image: Wishing you a year of good food, good trips and good friends.

About Shogatsu (Japanese New Year)

Shogatsu, or Oshogatsu, is the Japanese New Year, the most important holiday of the year in Japan. It is celebrated on 1 January, with the first three days, called sanganichi, the main holiday.

Before the new year, families clean their homes from top to bottom and put up kadomatsu of pine and bamboo by the door and kagami mochi rice cakes inside. On New Year's Eve, temple bells ring 108 times and families eat toshikoshi soba.

On New Year's Day people eat osechi, beautiful boxed dishes, and ozoni soup with mochi, visit a shrine or temple for hatsumode, the first prayer of the year, and read the nengajo New Year cards that arrive that morning. Children receive otoshidama, gifts of money in small envelopes.

How people celebrate Shogatsu (Japanese New Year)

  • Osechi and ozoni with mochi
  • Hatsumode: first shrine or temple visit
  • Nengajo New Year cards
  • Otoshidama for children
  • Kadomatsu and kagami mochi
  • Watching the first sunrise (hatsuhinode)
  • Joya no kane: 108 bell rings

How to wish well

  • Before 1 January, say "Yoi otoshi wo" (Have a good year end). From 1 January, say "Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu".
  • For colleagues and customers add "Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegai shimasu" (I look forward to your kind support this year too).
  • Families in mourning do not send or receive New Year greetings; they send a short mourning card in December, so send a gentle winter greeting instead.
  • Nengajo cards are usually written with the zodiac animal of the new year.

Questions about Shogatsu (Japanese New Year)

When is Japanese New Year?

On 1 January. The first three days of January are the main holiday, and many offices close from about 29 December to 3 January.

How do you say Happy New Year in Japanese?

"Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu" (あけましておめでとうございます). Friends say the short "Akeome".

What is nengajo?

Japanese New Year postcards. People post them in December and the post office delivers them all on the morning of 1 January.

What do Japanese people eat at New Year?

Osechi ryori, colourful boxed dishes with wishes for long life and good luck, and ozoni, a soup with mochi rice cakes. On New Year's Eve, toshikoshi soba noodles.

What is hatsumode?

The first visit of the year to a shrine or temple, to pray for health and luck in the new year.

What is otoshidama?

New Year money that parents and relatives give children in small decorated envelopes.

Keep exploring

Related

Coming up next

    All festival wishes

    Donate