Happy Hatsuyume! The First Dream of the Year and Why it’s Special
It’s a Japanese tradition to pay special attention to the first dream of the new year, as this particular dream can predict the good fortune of the dreamer for the year ahead.
Since the night of December 31st is a night that many of us don’t get a whole lot of sleep, Hatsuyume is traditionally practiced on the night of January 1st. Meaning the dream you wake up with on the morning of January 2nd is the one considered to be your Hatsuyme! This is of course flexible and the first dream you remember in the new year, whenever you dream it, can certainly count as your Hatsuyume.
For years I have known that the first dream of the year is significant and have always taken care to work thouroghly with these dreams. To me, they help sum up the year that has passed and hint at what is to come in the new year. In my first dream of 2021 I dreamed that my old boss from many years ago yelled at me, “You need a new assignment!” and I yelled back, “well, that’s at least ONE thing we can agree on!!”. And 2021 was the year I ended up deep diving into dreamwork and dream coaching, which is a FAR different “assignment” than what I used to do. So I really believe there is something to this!
This year I was curious and wanted to know where exactly this little tradition of working with the first dream of the year comes from, and a quick google search led me learn that it is indeed of Japanese origin. Hatsuyume is pronounced (HAT-SOO-YOO-MAY) where “hatsu” loosely means “first” and “yume” means “dream”.
According to Wikipedia, there are a few dream symbols that are considered to be EXTRA lucky! The 3 MOST lucky symbols to dream about in your Hatsuyume are Mount Fuji, a hawk and an eggplant. Others further down the list include a fan, tobacco and a “Blind Acupressurer”… (wait, what? Is that someone who performs acupressure and is also blind? That is a VERY specific dream symbol…)
The top 3 lucky symbols make sense when you think about what these real-world symbols mean to Japan. To get to the peak of any mountain is an undeniable accomplishment and would be welcome in any of my dreams, but Mount Fuji is even more symbolic than just any ol’ mountain. According to https://www.worldhistory.org/Mount_Fuji/ and I loosly quote:
“Considered sacred by the indigenous inhabitants of ancient Japan, Mt. Fuji's name may derive from Fuchi, the Ainu god of fire and the hearth. Some Buddhist sects considered the mountain a holy place, and from the 12th century CE, it became a destination for those seeking a 'rebirth' from their time on the mountain, in a mix of Buddhist, Taoist, and animist beliefs.”
So it’s easy to see how a dream of Mt. Fuji, representing a holy place and rebirth, could be predictive of a positive forecast for the year to come.
Likewise, in Japan hawks can be seen as symbols of good fortune and luck due to their clever nature, and strength and grip of their claws. And the Japanese word for eggplant, “Nasu”, implies achieving something great.
If you decide to participate in Hatsuyume, never fear if you do not dream of one of these symbols! There are an infinite number of symbols with an infinite number of meanings that can come to you and all you need to do is work with whatever comes.
You may wonder if there is anything you can do to increase your chances of having a GOOD Hatsuyme? It just so happens there are additional Japanese dreaming traditions that go along with Hatsuyume for this very reason. One of these traditions being to sleep with an image of the 7 Deities of Good Fortune on a treasure ship under your pillow. The idea is this image will increase your chances of conjuring up a GOOD dream, and if it doesn’t, you can throw the picture into the river to wash all the bad dreams away. If this method doesn’t quite jive with you, you can alternatively feel free to call upon your own guides or deities instead. Before bed, simply ask them to assist you in your dreams and show you the best outcomes for the year ahead.
One more Japanese dream tradition you can lean on if you are worried about having a bad Hatsuyme, is to conjure up Baku, who is a mystical creature that will eat your bad dreams for you. Not sure I would recommend this though as it’s been told that Baku may become greedy and eat your good dreams too!
…aaannd idk about you but I’m not inviting this guy over for ANYTHING… just look at this photo of him!
photo from https://mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Baku
But if you do want to call upon Baku, this is how you do it. Should you wake up to a nightmare Hatsuyume, you can say, “Baku-san come eat my dream!” 3 times. Look, I’m an 80’s kid. I know what happens when you say a name 3 times and conjure up stuff that shouldn’t be... re: Bloody Mary... so yeah, its up to you but NOT something I’m going to be doing.
SO – I’m not sure about you but I definitely plan to participate in Hatsuyume this year – sans Baku. If you would like to as well, this is what to do:
How to Enjoy Hatsuyume
1: Set an intention before bed on January 1st, to ask your dreams to show you what the new year has in store for you. You can also set the intention for pleasant dreams and the ability to remember them fully. You can say something like, “show me what next year will bring, and help me to remember it”. This would be a good time to call on your guides for assistance or to place a picture of the treasure ship of the 7 gods of fortune under your pillow.
2: Sleep. I find it helpful to wind down before bed and have a whole routine for this. Do whatever you would normally do, but try extra hard to fall asleep with the intention fresh in your mind.
3: Write down your dreams as FULLY as possible when you wake up the next morning. Also record your feelings immediately upon waking. This is not the morning to skimp out on dream journaling! Bullet point EVERYTHING you remember, IMMEDIATELY upon waking, then take the time to write the dreams out more fully.
4: Work with this dream as you would any other. What symbols showed up? What were you doing? Is any of it familiar? Do a reality check. And remember your intention which was to be shown what the year ahead has planned for you. How does your dream relate to that intention? Are you getting good vibes or negative vibes? Dreams are a window to the state of our soul. The feelings and vibes you receive from them are EVERYTHING. They let us know how we are truly doing, under the surface, and help us identify what might need some attention in our waking lives.
5: Honor the dream! If it was a negative dream, honor it by taking real-world actions to ensure you veer onto another path, that might result in a much better year ahead! Negative dreams and nightmares are gifts! It’s ok to have them, and they give us GREAT insight on where we currently are so we can take actions to move on to better states of being. As a last-ditch resort you could call Baku to come eat your dream but AT YOUR OWN RISK!! LOL
If you had a positive Hatsuyume, be happy! Do something to bring the dream alive in this world! Draw it, share it with someone, share it below in the comments and I will celebrate with you! Good things are coming your way! Yay!
As a final note, don’t forget to keep an eye out for waking dreams during this time as well. Signs and synchronicities play out around us all the time, and the ones surrounding the New Year can be interpreted in tandum with Hatsuyume. For more on following signs and synchronicities, check out my videos on the topic, that I will link to below.
I hope you enjoyed this article and plan on participating in Hatsuyume this year! If you do, please share your dreams in the comments below and let me know how it worked out for you!
Happy New Year everybody!!