Artist wanting to know more about Japanese culture for an Illustration

I recently recieved a request for a calender illustration on japanese culture and they wanted me to do it on Hatsumode for January. I don't know much about Japanese culture and wanted to know what all things i could add to show a Hatsumode scene. I'm thinking of the scene to be similar to this but i want to add more Hatsumode related things to it. Any ideas based on your experiances?

Also, as I was searching google images, I found the Meiji Shrine having two different decorations. What does the lanterns, the kanji and wooden signboards at the top of the roof say in the decorated version? I'm new to this forum so I hope this is the right place to ask

Hatsumode is one of many new years traditions in Japan. There are many scenes you could illustrate if that's the specific theme they want



Articles about general New Years stuff in Japan, to give you some context:

We have an article on the Japanese New Year festivities as well.

Thanks alot for the references. It's quite informative on the different aspects of Hatsumode. However, I'm looking more in terms of showing the hatsumode experiance in a single scene in front of the temple. If you were to visit the temple, what sort of sights/ decorations would one experiance at the inner entrance to the temple?

For example, so, as you enter the temple courtyard, you may find ema being hung in the main ground of the temple, or the omikuji being tied, etc. then as you go inside to the inner courtyard, its very busy and there are rows of people, in the entrace there are signboards which says "_____", red lanterns with "______" written on it, men and women are dressed in kimonos holding omamori, etc.
Personal experiances on the things you saw and pictures examples would be helpful as well. Something like this below to help me understand the experiance. Also what does the Japanese signs say in English?

A key feature in this picture are the boards with animal illustrations (sheep?) which represents the new year of the Chinese calendar. So this is a key clue that this is a New Years picture. That, plus the big crowd. The prominent sign says 南神門 which means South (Temple) Gate. So this depicts just a gate leading into the temple grounds, not the main temple itself. At the main temple you'll see coin boxes and people throwing money as well as ringing the bell. I assume you want to depict something more romantic than realistic. In real life you'll see a line of police to help with crowd control using riot shields and face protection -- this is not out of a concern for actual riots but so they don't get hit in the face with flying coins.

mdchachi said:

A key feature in this picture are the boards with animal illustrations (sheep?) which represents the new year of the Chinese calendar. So this is a key clue that this is a New Years picture. That, plus the big crowd. The prominent sign says 南神門 which means South (Temple) Gate. So this depicts just a gate leading into the temple grounds, not the main temple itself. At the main temple you'll see coin boxes and people throwing money as well as ringing the bell. I assume you want to depict something more romantic than realistic. In real life you'll see a line of police to help with crowd control using riot shields and face protection -- this is not out of a concern for actual riots but so they don't get hit in the face with flying coins.

Click to expand...

Thank you! These are exactly the details i'm looking for. The gate in the picture, is it the Minami Shinmon? Do you also know what the signs in the picture are? The one with the target mark and the horizontal banner decorations in red and yellow?

Also, what sort of attire do the men and women wear as well? Though it seems like it's just normal clothes from what I've read and seen in videos, its said that sometimes they dress traditionally.

Minami Shinmon would be the New South Gate. But this one is only labeled as South Gate (Minami Mon). So I suspect it may be a different gate. Or maybe it's the new gate but not labeled as such.
Here's a closeup of the signs in case somebody can translate quicker than I can.



The target mark is literally a target, not a sign. (You can see the massive arrow associated with it in other pictures.) But it does have some characters on it.