Hamaya Arrow

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Hamaya, 破魔矢, an arrow for the New Year

A talisman bought at the New Year in a shrine or temple with the wish for good luck.
Also used in rituals of exorcism.


Here we have our Daruma with such an arrow. This one is from Narita.


© PHOTO : atngo


For the Good Luck of the Family

© PHOTO : outdoorpapa


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Literally, "demon-breaking arrow," a decorative arrow sold at shrines at New Year's to ward off misfortune and to attract good luck. Hamaya are popular among New Year's visitors to shrines as one type of good-luck charm or engimono.

From the Edo to the early Meiji period, hamaya were given as gifts to celebrate the first New Year of a male baby's life, frequently in a set together with a pair of decorative bows called hamayumi ("demon-breaking bows").

The custom of selling the arrow alone is thought to be a later abbreviation of this custom. Even today, the custom persists of standing such symbolic bows and arrows at the northeast and southwest corners of a new house (called kimon 鬼門, the directions thought particularly susceptible to evil influences) on the occasion of the roof-raising ceremonies (jōtōsai).

The etymological significance of hama is not clear, but it is said to have been an ancient word for an archery target or an archery contest. The practice of making round targets of braided bamboo or straw, or circles of wood, and throwing them into the air or rolling them on the ground as archery targets was a common children's pastime, but it was also known as a form of New Year's divination used to foretell the fortunes of the coming year (toshiura).

When these elements are considered in the context of the current use of hamaya as New Year's good-luck charms, one must consider that the current interpretation of hamaya and hamayumi as "demon-quelling" arrows and bows was rejected by the Edo-period scholar Ise Sadafumi, who asserted that the characters used to express hama were originally adopted merely for their sound, and that the word's true meaning lay elsewhere.
©　Suzuki Kentarō / Kokugakuin University.


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Here are some shrine maidens preparing these arrows before the new year.
Click on the thumbnail for more photos.





This HAMAYA (Decorative Arrow) and HAMAYUMI (Decorative Arrow & Bow) have been blessed for warding off evil.

©　www.inarijinja.net

The other two lucky charms for the New Year are called Kumade (Bamboo Rake).


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..................... H A I K U





bow for the new year, hamayumi 破魔弓 （はまゆみ)
arrow for the new year, hamaya, 破魔矢 (はまや)
exorcism arrow, demon-quelling arrow
kigo for the new year



一九九九年の破魔矢かな
senkyuuhyaku kyuujuunen no hamaya kana

a lucky arrow
for the year nineteenhundred
ninety nine

Goto Takatoshi (Gotoo) 五島高資
Numbers in Haiku

Tr. Gabi Greve



New Year (shinnen, shin nen) KIGO

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©　shahai.exblog.jp

すれ違ふ外国人の手に破魔矢　
surechigau gaikokujin no te ni hamaya

in the hand
of a bypassing foreigner ...
a New Year's arrow

Haiku by Ikuko 郁子句
Tr. Gabi Greve


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