24. Japanese superstitions

I'm reading a book partially set in Japan at the start of the twentieth century featuring foxes—as in, magical beings (kitsune in Japanese; hui jing in Chinese). The Japanese concept of rokuyō was mentioned: a calendar for determining lucky days (or days when you should just stay in bed). It was introduced from China in the fourteenth century. 

Today, May 28, for example, is an unlucky day (except at noontime, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.), 赤口 (shakkō, meaning literally "red mouth"). Fortunately—or maybe not—there are only six rokuyō days, and they just rotate merrily along. Unfortunately, all but one involve at least some unluck. Yesterday was a lucky day all day long: 大安 (taian, meaning "great ease")! Too bad I didn't realize it, otherwise I might have taken advantage! Tomorrow is good luck in the morning, bad in the afternoon; the next day, good luck all day, except at noon. You get the drift. The day before Taian is a bad-luck-all-day day, 仏滅 (butsumetsu, meaning "Buddha death"). It must get tedious, to suffer so much bad luck... Though even Butsumetsu has a bright spot: since it's an inauspicious day for a wedding, wedding halls offer a discount. It may be a good way to test your luck—assuming you're not superstitious.

The website I've linked above also has loads of information on Japanese superstitions—about death; animals; health, wealth, and happiness; parts of the body; numbers. For example, whistling at night will summon snakes, and so should be avoided. Or, you might put irises on the roof to repel evil spirits. Or, eel and pickled plums are a bad pairing (said because salty plums can be used to disguise rotten eel—but normally, they make a very tasty summertime pairing). Or, you should hide your thumb if you see a hearse, lest the spirit of the deceased enter you through your thumbnail. Or, it's bad luck to dry laundry at night—said because it reminds people of the old custom of washing the kimonos of the dead and hanging them out to dry at night to ward off evil spirits. That said, if you leave your laundry overnight at a laundromat (which are very, very common in the cities of Japan), watch out: it might get nicked—bad luck!

There are loads of others, and various websites devoted to superstitions, such as here, here, here, here, and here. I may have to have a superstitious person (maybe just jokingly, to have fun with the children) in the book I'm writing.