All over the world dreams are thought to be important. There is always a reason why one dreams, whether the reason is supernatural or just a mish-mash of information you have gathered. In Japan, dream interpretation is not what happened, it is what is about to come.
There is a Japanese saying about the first dream of the new year being a predictor of how your year will turn out. There is a saying that if you see Mt. Fuji, an eagle, and eggplant it is a sign that great things are coming to you.
If you search in Japanese you will find multiple dream dictionaries like this one. It is pretty interesting to compare the differences that culture has on the interpretation of dreams.
A snake is actually a pretty popular dream image both in Japan and on English language sites. In Japan, if you see a snake it usually is telling you how lucky/unlucky you will be with what color it is. If the snake bites you, eats you, sheds its skin it means you will suffer financially.
Look it up in English and there is an explanation about snakes healing, being linked to your psyche and having Freudian imagery.
It is obvious that we are after different things when we look at our dreams (and obvious that people really like linking things to Freud.)
I recently found a list of some tradtional signs of fortune and misfortune in Japanese. I decided to translate it for you guys and put it up online so you guys can get a better idea about what lies on the road ahead of you…
GOOD LUCK
flying higher into the sky is a sign you will succeed soon
when the skies clear in your dream, it means luck is coming
if you witness dawn breaking you will regain your health (I guess this assumes you are sick)
dreams that are filled with water imagery mean that a marriage proposal may be coming
if you cross an ocean in your dream, luck is coming
if snow falls, it means something happy is occurring
dreams where you are tilling crops mean that your family will come into prosperity
if you can clearly make out the light of the moon and it is bright, then it means you are moving up in the world
if you dream about eating or drinking on a boat it means that there is going to be a cause for celebration soon. (maybe because you are now able to afford a yacht?)
if you dream about standing in a line at a funeral it means you will escape some disaster
if you dream about talking with a beggar or poor person it means that something auspicious will occur. (I was surprised that just talking to them would do the trick!)
BAD LUCK
if you feel an earthquake it means you will move soon (unless you just are feeling it because there was an actual earthquake…I guess this could be a good or bad situation depending on why you would move）
dark skies and dark earth make for a bad day coming your way
if you dream about high-powered people sitting in a line, then something bad is going to happen. (might have to do with those scary, higher-up people you were dreaming about)
if rain continues to fall in your dream, it is bad luck
if you dream about your parents separating it means that there will be strong winds and waves when you get up
if you dream about the dead coming to life again then a disaster is about to occur (possibly a zombie apocalypse?)
Are you guys superstitious about dreams? What do you do when you have a particularly weird one?
