Information Education Bulletin No. 21, October 4, 1945 Page: 2 of 14
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PART I • THE CYCLE OF LIFE
In order to understand any people, it is essential to remember that
every man, whatever his race or his environment may be, has certain
basic experiences. Whether you be an American from Kansas, or a Japanese
from Honshu, there are birth and death, marriage and the begetting of
children, and- certain social responsibilities. In this morning’s period,
we will look at those Japanese customs that might be termed the Japanese
life cycle. Tomorrow morning, we will go a little bit into Japanese
social customs, their food, and dress, and the smaller details and habits
of the Japanese people.
Japanese customs. The Japanese themselves have played up their
cultural differences in their propaganda, to show the "uniqueness" of
the people of Dai Nippon, We could present a whole list of interesting
details to show how the Japanese observes customs that are directly
opposite to our own. But more important than the differences in detail,
are the similarities. Whether the Japanese wears black for mourning
and white for weddings or vice-versa is an interesting fact but of
minor importance. Death and marriage are great common facts of human
life and the processes are remarkably similar whatever the nationality
or race of the participants.
In our understanding of the Japanese, we should try always to
reach this common ground as human beings, and not get ourselves side-
tracked and confused by relatively superficial customs and expressions.
1. Birth and infancy. As with certain northeast Asiatic tribes,
a Japanese woman does not cry out in childbirth, for to do so would
bring shame upon her. This tabu on showing pain is probably associated
with old tabus surrounding childbirth as a ritually unclean event, an
event to which it is well to draw as little attention as possible. In
modern Japan this attitude has been assimilated to the growing pride
in race and culture that has characterized the Japanese of recent
decades. According to the informed the Japanese woman is not ashamed
but rather she is too proud to cry out as her child is born.
In rural areas the afterbirth
yard and the father walks over it.
will respect and obey his father,
to walk over it before the father,
animal—a situation to be avoided.
is usually buried somewhere in the
This guarantees that the child
If a dog or some other animal were
then the child would fear that
Sex is something of great concern to Japanese as to other people.
While sexual intercourse and childbirth are both carried out as
privately as possible, there is plenty of public joking on the subject.
Even the new-born infant is made the subject of jocular remarks, a
baby boy being called taino (cannon) a baby girl gunkan (warship).
The child’s first introduction to society is at his naming cere-
mony, which is held 3 or 5 days after birth. On this occasion near
neighbors—one from each household—and relatives living not too far
away come to a little party given by the parents in honor of the new
2
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27th Infantry Division. Information Education Bulletin No. 21, October 4, 1945, text, October 4, 1945; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1679699/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.