Susuharai (Year-end Cleaning) Coloring Pages

Clean Away the Year's Dirt and Get Ready for Toshigami-sama

Susuharai (Year-end Cleaning) is a big house cleaning that happens in late December, especially around December 13th. People sweep away all the dust and soot that piled up over the year to make every corner of the house clean.

What Does It Mean and Symbolize?

Susuharai (Year-end Cleaning) has a special wish behind it: to welcome the new year with a clean start.

• Welcoming Toshigami-sama: By cleaning the house, you get ready to warmly welcome Toshigami-sama, the deity who brings good fortune at New Year's.
• Driving Away Bad Luck: It was also a special ritual to drive away bad luck. People believed they were sweeping away evil things and bad luck right along with the dust and soot.
• A Fresh Start: It is a symbol of hope. You clear away all the dirt and worries of the old year so you can welcome the new year feeling happy and refreshed.

How Susuharai (Year-end Cleaning) Started

The tradition of Susuharai (Year-end Cleaning) started a very long time ago.

• The Beginning: It is said to have started as a Buddhist event to sweep away the soot that gathered over the year on Buddhist altars and around hearths.
• Edo Period: During the Edo period, December 13th was officially set as "Susuharai (Year-end Cleaning) Day" at Edo Castle. After that, this custom spread to everyday homes too.

How to Do Susuharai (Year-end Cleaning)

Susuharai (Year-end Cleaning) is special because you clean ceilings and high places that you cannot usually reach.

• Everyone Helps: In the old days, families and everyone in the house worked together to clean all at once.
• Long Tools: Just like in the picture, people attach leafy branches or brooms to the tips of long bamboo poles to sweep down dust from the ceiling.

How to Choose Colors: Use Refreshing Air and Traditional Colors!

For the Susuharai (Year-end Cleaning) coloring page, try using lots of calm and bright colors! They bring out the fresh feel of a clean home, as well as the colors of traditional buildings and kimonos.

• Basic colors: Let's pick mostly brown (wood), green (pine and bamboo), white (dust and walls), and calm colors (kimono).

Colors for each part:

• Wooden Beams and Pillars: Color the beams and pillars of the Japanese house in dark brown or light wood colors to give them a warm wooden feel.
• Kimono: Color the kimono worn by the working people in navy blue, calm green, or brown as a base of easy-to-move-in colors. Adding a little bit of bright color to the patterned parts will make it look wonderful!
• Dust: Color the dust and soot falling from the ceiling in light gray or white to make it look soft and fluffy.

How to color to make things look 3D: Building depth and wood texture!

To show the depth of the building, the folds of the kimono, and the texture of the wood, think about "shadows" and "lights." Places that will be in shadow:

• Try adding shadows to places where light doesn't reach, like between the ceiling beams, deep inside the sliding doors, and behind the people! Use a darker brown or darker gray than your main color to make the building look deeper.

Where the light hits:

• If you color the places where the light hits—like the floor or the surface of the sliding doors—with bright colors, you can show how nice and clean everything looks!

Let's add some texture!

Colored pencils: If you color the wooden beams in brown using vertical lines, you can show the wood grain and make it look hard. Kimono: If you use the tip of your colored pencil to neatly color the small patterns on the kimono, its traditional beauty will really stand out.

Hints to help you enjoy your coloring page!

• Express the fresh and clean feeling!
  • While you color, imagine the fresh, clean air in the room after all the dust is swept away, and try using bright colors!
• The Big Cleaning Team!
  • Let's color a picture of family and friends working together to clean! You can make it fun and colorful by using different colors for everyone's clothes!