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Few more fun facts:

Elementary school students all write kakizome at the end of December. Within the school, each grade will write the exact same thing. They're hung in the halls for all to see. Hundreds of the exact same kakizome.

Many people burn their kakizome mid-January during "Dondoyaki."

The posture, attention and care taken while writing Kakizome is one of the important points. Those, and the outcome of the characters themselves, are all taken into account.

Unrelated, but Japan's officaily chosen Kanji for the year 2024 was "金" which means gold, or money, or heck, even Friday.



金 : kin : gold

お金 : okane : money

金曜日 : kinyoubi : Friday (shortened to 金 on some calendars, kind of like how we do “Fri” sometimes in English)

金子 : kaneko : gold coin

金魚 : kingyo : goldfish


金子 is kinsu.

https://jisho.org/search/%E9%87%91%E5%AD%90

Kane is not a normal reading for 金 in compound words unless this is an esoteric word I haven’t seen.


You are correct. 金子 can be read as “kaneko”, but that’s actually a surname and place name. “Kinsu” is a gold coin. I got the two swapped.


Oof. The reading for names will always get me. Still worth knowing the name reading!

Google maps has it showing up in a bunch of business names, too.


Seems to have been a bit of confusion in several directions here, but just to clarify: in modern usage 金子 is read only as Kaneko, and is a very common surname. The "kinsu" reading is archaic; a typical native speaker may never have heard of it.


That one sounds like Chinese word with hallucinated Japanese usage. 子 is IIUC casually used to mean "little ___ things" in Chinese, but same isn't the case with Japanese; 金子 is used as a somewhat discrete way to refer to an envelope of cash.


--> 金 --> Venus --> Friday -->

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday#Etymology


Burning them during Dondoyaki feels like a meaningful way to let go and start fresh.


For some, the particular way it burns and how the ashes fly in the air has meaning, too.


How much meaning can be found in these small, fleeting moments during the ritual




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