How we celebrate the birth of a baby in Japan.
The Students describe how we celebrate the birth of a baby through the use of photographs and words. They write about how a baby is named and what kind of food a baby is fed at its special ceremonies celebrating its birth.
our baby
folk tales
free time games
table of contents
- 1. okui-hajime (18/07/2001)
- by Ikumi, Eri, Asako
- 2. heso-no-o, or naval cord (18/07/2001)
- by Tsuyoshi and Daigo
- 3. some ways Japanese people name their babies (1) (29/07/2001)
- by Chikako, Emi and Yuriko
- 4. some ways Japanese people name their babies (2) (30/07/2001)
- by Maki, Mariko and Ayumi (1)
- 5. an old Japanese toy for small kids(31/07/2001)
- by Maki, Mariko and Ayumi (2)
- 6. shichi-go-san(31/07/2001)
- by Maki, Mariko and Ayumi (3)
1.Okui-hajime
Okui-hajime is an important for the celebration of babies.
When a baby is 100 days or 120 days old, its parents have the ceremony, inviting their relatives and friends. They serve a wonderful dish to their baby.
`Okui` means 'to eat' and 'hajime' is a Japanese word meaning 'to begin'. So the parents celebrate the day when their baby starts to eat for itself. The baby in the picture left(Ikumi) is surrounded with her relatives and family. And the baby in the picture below(Asako) is alone with her parents Actually these babies can't eat using the chopsticks for themselves. But at this time a baby starts to eat something other than milk.
They have Okuihamime to pray that a baby is not in poor health.
The menu is rice steamed with red beans, sea bream, sumashi soup and food of incense.
Rice steams with red beans is called 'sekihan' in Japanese and popular at celebration in Japan.
Sea bream is also a popular fish as a symbol of happiness.
Food of incense is umeboshi, Japanese pickled prum and etc. They serve umeboshi and pray that their baby will live long until the bay grows old, full of wrinkes as the prums have..
They also serve pebble. Of course, the baby can't bite and eat pebbles. They pray the babi's teeth will be strong enough to bite food as hard as pebbles.
by Ikumi, Eri, and Asako
Looking forward to your comments
2. heso-no-o, or naval cord
In Japan, we have several customes for celebrating baby's growth. Keeping a baby's hesono-o is one of them. "Hesono-o" is 'naval cord string' in English. The naval cord is a kind of cord which connects a baby or an embryo with its mother while the mother is pregnant. The mother sendsnutrition to her baby with the cord. The mother keeps sending not only nutrition but also a great love to her baby.
When the baby is born, the baby's family keep the naval cord in a wooden box as an important thing.
Some days after a baby is born, its father, mother and grandparents take the baby to shrine to celebrate the baby's birth. This is called 'Omiya-mairi'. On this occasion, they thank to God for the safe arrival of the baby and pray that the bay will grow well and healthy.
by Tsuyoshi and Daigo
Looking forward to your comments
3. some ways Japanese people name their babies (1)
Hello. We'd like to show how to name babies in Japan.
We go to a shrine and a Shinto priest names our baby, because this is a sigh of good luck.
Although there are so many ways to name babies in Japan, this is one of the most popular ways. Japanese people worry about what their babies' names mean.
Japanese believe that a baby's name will decide its future. That is why they are named by a priest. Some people believe Shinto, and some believe Buddhism and some believe other religions. Some believe in other superstitions.
We look for or think of a good name which will bring good fortune to a baby. We care about 'kakusu.' Kakusu means the numbers of the strokes you make when your write a kanjicharacters. For example, when you write 'kawa', (a kanji meaning 'river'), we make 3 strokes like this. So the character is made up of 3 strokes.
We add up the numbers of all the strokes, first name's strokes and second name's strokes. For example, if a baby's name is 'Yamada Kohei', "Yamada"(family name) has 8 strokes and "Kohei"(first name) has 11 strokes. 8 and 11makes 19. We are not sure whether 19 strokes is good or not. But priests or some specialists know that.
We feel that our parents treasure us.
by Chikako, Emi and Yuriko
4. some ways Japanese people name their babies (2)
Mariko
My name is Mariko. My name seems to come from the name of a woman my father respected many years ago. So I want to be such a reliable woman.
Maki
My name is Maki. When I was born, my parents went to a shrine. And I was named by a shinto priest. The prienst named me considering from my birthday and family name and the time of my birth.
My name is Ayumi. And my father's name is Susumu. My father's name, 'susumu' is a word meaning 'development' or 'progress.' My name 'ayumi' is also a word meaning 'walk on' or 'develop.'
By Maki, Mariko and Ayumi
5. hiki-guruma and baby carriage
In Japan we have a toy called 'hikiguruma', which is a good toy for small kids.
Small kids enjoy playing with the toy. Some children called this toy 'the clack-clack', because we can hear the clack sounds when we move the wheels. This toy helps small babies walk. When a baby pushes the wheels, some parts of the wheels moves up and down and makes funny sounds.
And we have another unique baby carriage, or a Japanese baby baggy. Small kids love it very much.
By Maki, Mariko and Ayumi
6. Shichi-Go-San
We have an event, Shichi-Go-San.
When a girl is 3 and 7 years old, and when a boy is 5 years old, they visit a shrine. A girl wears a kimono and a boy wears a 'hakama' traditional formal clothes. A girl stands in front of a Shinto maiden in the service of a Shinto shrine. All the members of the family are also dressed up and go to a shrine. They wish their childrens' life of prosperity and happiness there. And they get a candy called 'chitose-ame'(ame is a word for candy)which is the symbol of longevity.
By Maki, Mariko and Ayumi
back to top
back to project home
