Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
In the lower classes at least, mothers fed their children for as long as possible—much
longer than in Europe—partly because they believed that they would not conceive again
until the last child was weaned, and partly because they kept their babies near to them all
the time. The baby was carried around on its mother's back, held there by a broad band
that held it under the buttocks and across the back. There it passed the day until bedtime,
sleeping and waking as it pleased, being occasionally released for feeding. It would some-
times be transferred to an elder sister, but remained in close physical contact with another
human being all the time. At night it shared its mother's bed, and even when a child grew
big enough to require a bed of its own it would continue to sleep in the same room as its
parents. The constant company of others probably had its effect in later life, when to be
alone was felt to be most undesirable.
Most families had a
shintō
shrine where they commonly worshipped, and a god who
was their special protector. The child would be qualified by this association to take an act-
ive part in certain festivals, and his first presentation to the god was attended with some
ceremonial, probably organized by the midwife who had brought him into the world. In
circles where the birth hut was still used this first visit marked an end to the period of con-
finement, and at all levels it tended to occur on the thirty-second day after birth for a boy,
andadaylaterforagirl.Formanychildrenitwastheoccasionwhentheyfirstworeclothes
of the
kimono
shape.
In reckoning age, no account was taken of the actual birthday, but counting was done
bycalendar months. Thusanewbornbabywasoneuntil the endofthe twelfth month ofits
birth-year, after which it was two—so that a child born in the autumn would be counted as
twoyearsoldafewmonthslater.Onthefifteenthoftheeleventhmonththerewasafestival
called “Seven—five—three”, from the ages of the children who took part in it. Children of
both sexes in their third year were dressed in their finery and went to the shrine. It was the
day that they moved out of babyhood, and was accompanied by a change in the way their
hair was arranged. On the same day in his fifth year a boy was dressed for the first time
in a version of adult clothes. He was made to stand on a
go
board (
86
)—a platform about
18 inches square, raised from the ground, used in the game of
go
(in which the players,
one using black counters and the other white counters, tried to surround their opponent's
pieces)—facing a lucky direction. Then he was dressed in his first
hakama,
the left leg be-
ing put in first. This was followed by a visit to the shrine. A girl went through a similar
ceremony in her seventh year, when the
kimono
with narrow bands attached, which were
tied round the waist, was replaced by one which required a separate
obi.
