The Japanese year-end clean, osoji, has a history and an order. The history is susuharai, the “soot sweeping” of temples and castles that was fixed on December 13 in the Edo period and is still carried out each December at temples and shrines across Japan, with long bamboo poles and a great deal of dust. The order is the useful part.
Osoji works through the house in a fixed sequence, from the top of each room to the floor, from the rooms furthest from the door toward the door itself, and finishes at the entrance on the last day. Here is that order as a checklist.
Before you start: four rules
Top to bottom, so dust falls onto what has not been cleaned yet. Dry before wet, so the dust is removed before it becomes mud. Back of the house to the door, so the clean floor is not walked over. One area a day, so the whole thing takes a fortnight rather than a lost weekend.
Also on Etsy: the same planners and singles, in the Ikigai Daily Studio shop.
Days one to three: the rooms furthest from the door
Bedrooms first. Ceiling corners and light fittings, then the tops of wardrobes and shelves, then walls and window frames, then the inside of the windows, then furniture, then the floor, including under the bed. Bedding is aired on a dry day. This is also the moment for koromogae, the seasonal wardrobe change, if it has not been done.
Days four to six: the living room
The same top-to-bottom order. Behind and under the sofa, the backs of picture frames, the tops of door frames, the inside of the television cabinet. Books come off the shelves one shelf a day, and the shelf is wiped before they go back. Anything that has not been used since last December is a candidate for danshari.
Days seven to nine: the kitchen
The hardest room, which is why it comes in the middle, when there is still energy. Extractor hood and filter first, then the tops of cupboards, then cupboard interiors one at a time, then the oven, then the fridge, emptied and wiped, with anything out of date gone. The sink is last, and is cleaned with the same attention as the cooker, because in a Japanese kitchen the sink is the place that is judged.
Days ten and eleven: the bathroom and toilet
Ventilation fan, then walls and tiles, then fittings, then floor. Grout is the long job; a day is set aside for it. Drains are cleared. Towels are replaced. In Japan, the toilet is cleaned with particular care at the year’s end, because a clean toilet is associated with good fortune in the coming year.
Days twelve and thirteen: halls, stairs and storage
The spaces between rooms, which are walked through daily and cleaned rarely. Skirting boards, banisters, light switches, the tops of the stair risers. The oshiire or storage cupboard is emptied, wiped and refilled with only what belongs there.
Day fourteen: windows and the outside
Outside glass, frames, sills, the front step, the path. In Japan this is also the day the New Year decoration goes up, on December 28, which is why osoji finishes by then.
Day fifteen: the genkan
The entrance is last, and is done last on purpose: it is the first thing seen in the New Year, and the first thing a guest sees. Shoes out, floor swept and wiped, shoe cupboard emptied and wiped, door and handle cleaned, mat shaken. Then the shoes go back, lined up and facing the door.
Day sixteen: the final walk
A walk through the house from the back to the front, in the order it was cleaned, with a cloth, catching what was missed. Then the cleaning things are put away, and the house is left alone until the New Year.
Keeping it to sixteen days
The sixteen days are a shape, not a rule. Two rooms on a free Saturday and nothing on a working Tuesday is fine. What matters is the order: top to bottom, back to front, and the entrance last.
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This article is part of a series exploring Japanese philosophy and intentional living: