New Year Feast おせち
osechi3 characters8 strokes
おせち (osechi) is the special food Japanese families eat at New Year, packed in tiered boxes, with each dish carrying a wish for happiness.
Free practice sheet
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Meaning 意味
What おせち means
The Japanese word for New Year Feast, written in hiragana and read osechi.
おせち is the celebration food eaten during the New Year holidays, packed in stacked boxes called jūbako. Each dish, such as black soybeans or herring roe, carries a wish for happiness.
The word is written here in hiragana, which gives it a soft, rounded look that feels warm and familiar.
When people write it in Japan. People choose it for kakizome, the first calligraphy of the New Year, when the theme is family time at New Year or happy winter break memories.
Written in kana, the Japanese syllables children learn first.
How to write it 書き方
Brush tips for おせち
Three things to watch
- In お, make a small loop at the bottom of the vertical stroke, then swing wide to the right. Place the dot at the top right a little apart.
- In せ, write the horizontal long and rising to the right. Keep the right vertical short and flick it to the left; bring the left vertical down long and bend it right.
- In ち, let the horizontal rise to the right. Start the slanted stroke above the horizontal and bring it down so it cuts right through.
Stroke order
Follow the vermilion stroke, frame by frame.
Stroke order data: KanjiVG by Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0.
How to practice 練習
Trace first, then copy
- PrintPrint both pages at actual size, on US Letter or A4. Page 1 is the model. Page 2 is the tracing sheet.
- TraceTrace the outlines with a brush pen. Or lay thin hanshi paper over the page and trace with brush and ink.
- CopySet the model beside your paper and copy it stroke by stroke. Look at the model more than at your own paper.
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