These slides introduce some of the main traditional life cycle rituals in Japan.

1. Japanese Life Cycle Rituals
Robert Croker, Nanzan University
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2. Defining Ritual

3. Defining Ritual
Rituals are taught and practiced from a young age.

4. Defining Ritual
• Rituals are sequences of formal actions and
utterances, more formal than usually used in
everyday casual interaction.
• ‘Formal’ means having extra rules and
restrictions about behavior and language.
• Rituals include both social and religious
practices.
• Rituals can be public and private.

5. Defining Ritual
Actions: the actions in a ritual do not usually
have meaning – meaning is given to them
by the participants. Rituals presume that
participants have some shared
understanding of those meanings.
Religious rituals – one participant may be
an entity such as a kami (deity or god) – but
they are treated like real participants,
perhaps by embodying them in a person or
object.

6. Five Types of Rituals
1. life cycle rituals
2. seasonal cycle rituals
3. exchange and communion rituals
4. fasting and feasting rituals
5. affliction rituals
Source: Bell, C. (1997). Ritual: Perspectives
and dimensions. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
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7. 1. Life Cycle Rituals
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8. Life Cycle Rituals
Definition: Rituals which accompany and
dramatize major life events.
Purpose:
1. Give cultural meanings to natural
biological processes e.g. birth, marriage,
death.These are culturally universal.
2. Recognize the transition to new stages of
life e.g. entering school, becoming 'an adult',
job-hunting 就職活動, becoming a 社会人.
These are culturally specific. 8

9. Life Cycle Rituals
Types:
one-time only events (e.g. birth)
vs. recurring events (e.g. birthdays)
lucky ('auspicious') events (e.g. marriage)
vs. unlucky events (e.g. yakudoshi, 厄年)
note that almost all events are 'gendered'
i.e. women and men celebrate these events
differently e.g. different clothes and roles 9

10. Task:
Write a list of the major life cycle events that
are important in your culture, from birth.
1. Divide them into culturally universal
events and culturally specific events.
2. Note if they are one-time only events, or
recurring events.
3. Note if they are lucky or unlucky events.
4.Think about how they are 'gendered'.
Life Cycle Rituals
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11. 1. start before birth, and continue long after
death
2. reflect quite set stages in life, with
relatively little overlapping between stages
3. often an extended set of related activities
4. different people play different roles; roles
that are often invisible become visible
during these rituals
5. many rituals are very gendered; they
reinforce gender roles
Life Cycle Rituals in Japan
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12. 6. change over time – sometimes gradually
as time passes, sometimes quickly at critical
junctures (beginning of the Meiji era,
beginning of the postwar period)
7. generational differences – older people
continue traditional rituals, younger people
create new rituals
8. regional differences – many are the same
across Japan, but many differ depending
upon the region
Life Cycle Rituals in Japan
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13. 9. life-cycle events are increasingly marked
by money ('commodified') e.g. renting
clothes at 7-5-3, holding marriages at
wedding halls and funerals at funeral halls,
paying people to write a marriage proposal
10. are usually accompanied by gift-giving to
mark relationships (and how these
relationships change because of this event);
there are many rules for gift-giving
Life Cycle Rituals in Japan
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14. birth in Japan
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15. 帯祝い
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16. 帯祝い
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17. 17

18. 腹帯
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19. 帯祝い
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20. お守り
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21. お守り
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22. お守り
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23. お守り
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24. お守り
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25. お守り
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26. 出産
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27. 出産祝い
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28. 28

29. 内祝い
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30. お守り
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31. 出産後に行う８個の手続き
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32. 出産後に行う８個の手続き
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33. 宮参り
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34. 宮参り
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35. 宮参り
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36. 1. start before birth,continue long after death
2. often an extended set of related activities
3. different people play different roles
4. change over time – sometimes gradually,
sometimes at critical junctures (beginning of
Meiji era, beginning of postwar period)
5. generational differences – older people
continue traditional rituals, younger people
create new rituals
Life Cycle Rituals in Japan
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37. 6. many are the same across Japan, but many
differ depending upon the region
7. many are very gendered
8. life-cycle events are increasingly marked
by money ('commodified') e.g. 7-5-3,
marriages, writing marriage proposals
9. are usually accompanied by gift-giving to
mark relationships (and how they change),
and there are many rules for gift-giving
10. shrines often sell talisman お守りfor them
Life Cycle Rituals in Japan
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38. 7-5-3
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39. 7-5-3
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40. 7-5-3
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41. 千歳飴
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42. entering and leaving school
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43. the schooling system
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44. becoming an adult
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45. 就職活動
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46. getting married
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47. getting old
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48. death
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49. after death
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50. Homework Tasks:
A.Write a list of the major yearly cycle
events that are important in your culture,
from January to December.
1. Divide them into culturally universal
events and culturally specific events.
2. Note if they are lucky or unlucky events.
3.Think about how they are 'gendered'.
B. Complete the reading, make notes.
Yearly and Seasonal Cycle Rituals
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