Hatsuyume: the meaning of Japan's first dream of the year
Hatsuyume (初夢) is the first dream you have in the New Year. In Japan it is said to foretell the year ahead, and the most famous saying about it is "ichi Fuji, ni taka, san nasubi": first Mount Fuji, second a hawk, third an eggplant.
Here is when the first dream is, what each lucky sign means, the lesser-known sequel to the saying, and what people do after a bad first dream. Use the checker below to look up what appeared in yours.
Hatsuyume checker: what appeared in your first dream?
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When is the hatsuyume?
Today most people count the dream on the night of January 1 into the morning of January 2. New Year's Day is busy with shrine visits and greetings, and January 2 is when the year's "firsts" (like the first calligraphy, kakizome) begin.
Older traditions place it on New Year's Eve, or on the night of January 2. In the early Edo period it was even the night before Risshun, the lunar start of spring.
Sources: Kotobank: 初夢 (Japanese)
Fuji, hawk, eggplant: why they are lucky
One popular story traces the trio to Suruga Province (Shizuoka), home of Tokugawa Ieyasu, where Fuji, hawks and early eggplants were all prized.
1Mount Fuji
Japan's highest peak; echoes buji (safe) and fushi (immortal). High goals and a healthy household.
In the dictionary: Mount Fuji →2Hawk
Taka sounds like takai, "high": rising fortune, and a chance firmly caught.
In the dictionary: Hawk →3Eggplant
Nasu sounds like "to accomplish". A plant with many fruits: success and a fruitful family.
Sources: Kotobank: 一富士二鷹三茄子 (Japanese)
The sequel: fan, tobacco, blind monk
The saying continues "shi ōgi, go tabako, roku zatō", and each sign pairs with one of the first three.
4Folding fan
It widens as it opens, like Fuji's slopes: luck that keeps spreading.
6Zatō
A shaven-headed blind lute player. "No hair" puns on "no injury": a year without harm.
New Year customs for a good first dream
- Sleep with a picture of the takarabune (treasure ship of the Seven Lucky Gods) under your pillow.
- Recite the palindrome poem "nagakiyo no tō no nefuri no mina mezame nami nori fune no oto no yoki kana" three times before sleeping.
- If you have a lucky dream, keep it to yourself rather than telling everyone.
What if your first dream was bad?
A frightening first dream does not doom the year. Japanese dream lore even has sakayume, "reverse dreams" whose meaning flips in waking life.
Traditionally people floated the treasure-ship picture down a river, or asked the baku, the mythical dream-eater, to swallow the nightmare. The simplest custom: don't tell it, and start the year calmly.
Read your own first dream
No Fuji or hawk? Write the dream as you remember it and get a free AI reading of every symbol in it. No sign-up.
✦ Interpret my first dream →Frequently asked questions
What night is hatsuyume?+
Most commonly the night of January 1 into the morning of January 2. Some traditions use New Year's Eve or the night of January 2.
What comes after Fuji, hawk and eggplant?+
Fourth a folding fan, fifth tobacco smoke, sixth a zatō (blind monk). Each pairs with one of the first three signs.
What does "hatsuyume" mean?+
Hatsu means "first" and yume means "dream": the first dream of the New Year.
These meanings come from Japanese folklore and are shared for culture and reflection, not as predictions.