Today is the seventh day of the new year.
It’s a Japanese tradition from China to eat a special dish made with 「春の七草」 (the seven herbs of Spring) on this day.
In China, the new year starts at the beginning of Spring. Japan used to follow this calendar, too.
That’s the reason that one way to write “New Year” in Japanese is 「新春」. It means “New Year“…but a literal translation would be “New Spring“.
The dish you meant to eat this morning with the 「春の七草」 (the seven herbs of Spring) is called 「七草粥」 (“Seven Herbs Porridge“).
The picture above is the 「春の七草」 (the seven herbs of Spring) that my wife used to make this 「七草粥」 (“Seven Herbs Porridge“):
I put a 梅干し (Japanese salty plum) in mine.
It was quite good.
Tokyo Five 
Your post is great! Tokyo Five, I asked for permission to make this post as a reference in my blog: https://raun2nomaden.wordpress.com/2017/01/07/haru-no-nana-kusa/ I’m really grateful for it..
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Thank you for the link. I can’t understand your post, though…what language is it in?
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That’s OK. I use Indonesian language. So that’s way you can’t understand. Thank you.
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I see. Thank you
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You are welcome 🙂
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🙂
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It’s January 7 again…so we had this 「春の七草」 again today.
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Tomorrow is (2013) January 7th.
We’ll be eating this dish again tomorrow.
How about you?
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Next Tuesday (2014 January 7th) will be 七草の節句 (ななくさのせっく) (Seven herbs seasonal day) again.
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Today is this day again.
I ate 七草粥 this morning. How about you?
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Aunt Linda…
Are you gonna make Japanese 御粥 (rice porridge)?
In Japan, it’s usually eaten when you’re sick (like Chicken Noodle Soup in America), but on January 7, Japanese people eat 「七草粥」 Seven Herbs Porridge…maybe to let their stomach rest after the big New Years meal.
Anyways, yes, that’s a Daikon. (Do you know that Japanese word? I was surprised. Is it a common vegetable overseas? It’s very common in Japan).
But to make the Seven Herbs Porridge, is just rice, hot water, salt, and the leaves from the seven plants (chopped up). Like many people, I like to add 「梅干し」 (salty ume plum) too.
The seven herbs are:
セリ (Water Dropwart)
ナズナ (Sheppard’s Purse)
オギョウ (Cudweed)
ハコベラ (Chickweed)
ホトケノザ (Nipplewort)
スズナ (Turnip)
スズシロ (Daikon)
But many people replace one or two (or more) with other plants that they prefer. So, if you make this dish and can’t find some of the leaves…use what you’d like.
Please tell me how it comes out!
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What ARE the seven herbs of spring? Do I see radish and maybe daikon? Are these considered to be herbs? Send me a list and I’ll make a soup, too! Greetings to the cook!
Love, Aunt L.
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umepontarou…
Yes, you should. It was 美味しかった。
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thanks..
this porridge looks really nice and healthy, I should make and eat sometime! 🙂
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umepontarou…
It’s not a shame. You don’t need to follow every tradition.
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It’s kinda shame, but I’ve never had this Seven Herbs Porridge (七草粥) before :p
I know that it’s Japanese tradition to eat the dish, but my family don”t eat them 😦
Your wife is very good!!
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