Osechi-ryōri are traditional Japanese New Year foods. The tradition started in the Heian Period (794-1185).
Osechi are easily recognizable by their special boxes called jūbako, which resemble bentō boxes. Like bentō boxes, jūbako are often kept stacked before and after use.
The term osechi originally referred to o-sechi, a season or significant period. New Year’s Day was one of the five seasonal festivals (sekku) in the Imperial Court in Kyoto. This custom of celebrating particular days was introduced from China into Japan.
Originally, during first three days of the New Year it was a taboo to use a hearth and cook meals, except when cooking zōni. Osechi was made by the close of the previous year, as women did not cook in the New Year.
In the earliest days, osechi consisted only of nimono, boiled vegetables with soy sauce and sugar or mirin. Over the generations, the variety of food included in osechi has increased.
Today osechi may refer to anything prepared specially for the New Year, and some foreign dishes have been adopted as “Westernized osechi” (seiyō-osechi) or as “Chinese-style osechi” (chūkafū osechi). And while osechi was traditionally prepared at home, it is also sold ready-made in specialty stores, grocery stores, and even convenience stores, such as 7-Eleven.
