| Have you ever wondered about... |
Omiyamairi and the 100-day Ceremony? |
By Emy Murakawa
| My granddaughter was recently 100 days old. We wanted to do an omiyamairi and brought her to a temple. In Japan, the baby is brought to a Shinto shrine for introduction to and first contact with the gods and to have a Shinto priest perform a ceremony to ward off evil. This visit is marked on the thirty-first day after the birth of a baby boy and the thirty-second day after the birth of a baby girl. (Don’t ask me why! If anyone knows, please enlighten us!) Today, mothers generally wait about a month or so before taking their baby to the shrine. But in my family, for whatever reason, the |
My granddaughter dressed in an ubugi |
omiyamairi has been combined with the 100-day ceremony, and instead of presentation at a Shinto shrine, we observe hatsumairi (first service) at our Buddhist temple.
In the past, omiyamairi was an elaborate ceremony. Today, it is generally simply observed by a formal visit to the shrine for blessings of good health. On the day of the visit to the shrine, the baby is dressed in a formal kimono or, as it was called by my aunt who sent this one to my granddaughter, an ubugi. The kimono worn by the baby on this auspicious occasion has unique traditional features: there is no seam on the back of the kimono since its width is the same as a bolt of kimono fabric. The back of regular kimonos consists of two widths of the kimono fabric. Other special features include long narrow sleeves, decorative cords and five family crests on the kimono. A boy’s kimono is made of habutae (plain-woven silk) and is black with bold patterns. The under-kimono is made of white, yellow or brown habutae. I could not find one for my boys, so they wore regular yukata (cotton kimono). A girl’s kimono is often made of crepe and decorated with auspicious motifs such as cranes, tortoises, pines, chrysanthemums, and other flowers.
In the hope that the baby will have enough food to eat throughout life, there is a ritual ceremony at 100 days called okuizome (literally, to start eating) or ohashiitori (literally, to take chopsticks). Depending on the locality in Japan, there may be variations to the ceremony, but ichijyu san sai is the basic menu. I wrote about ichijyu san sai in one of my earlier food articles for Cultural Corner. It is basically one soup and three sides, usually served on individual tray tables. The 100 day menu generally consists of sekihan (azuki bean rice), okashira tsuki no yakizakana (whole cooked fish), sumashijiru (clear soup), and nimono (stewed food – we had onishime), usually served with a little konomono (something pickled, tsukemono). Symbolically, to represent the hope for strong teeth for eating, a small rock called a hagatame no koishi is placed on the tray. Unfortunately for the baby, this ceremony only involves pretending to eat food. We symbolically put food in front of the baby's open mouth but did all the eating ourselves. Another tradition in my family is to give the first chawan (rice bowl) and ohashi (chopsticks) to the baby. My granddaughter is lucky to have two hi-baba (great grandmothers) still living and nearby, one of whom still loves all these rituals from her childhood. In addition to the beautiful ubugi sent from my aunt in Nagasaki, the two hi-baba got my granddaughter a full matched set of dishes, from chawan to donburi bowl, from chopstick to chopstick rest, from teacup to plate, and a little presentation tray for the ceremony.
I wonder how many of these observances will continue here in the U.S. Among my friends, I don’t know any who formally did any of these things. And, even though I did some for my kids, they somewhat varied from tradition. I think this type of variation will happen more and more so that new traditions will be made. What will remain is our hope that our children and grandchildren will be happy and healthy and have good fortune throughout their lives.
By Gail Sharp
According to an ancient Chinese proverb:
“One picture is worth 10,000 words.”
May Photo
What can you tell us about this picture? Who are these people? What were they doing? When was it taken? What significance to our Community Center does the photo represent? Is this you? Is this your father, uncle, brother, or friend?
Please feel free to give as many words as you have in you and to go off on tangents! The Talk Story photos can elicit all kinds of memories that may not tie in directly to the people or activities pictured but we would love to read about them anyway. Whether it is 25 words or 2500, so much of our VJCC history is locked away in our memories. Please help us expand our written record of the VJCC and its members. Contact us with "Talk Story" in the subject line and the month of the article.
April Photo
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Well, everyone must have been busy doing their taxes last month because no one had time to submit information about the April photo. One individual noticed her family members in previous photos. I’m pretty sure she’ll get to the April newsletter by the end of this month. |
March Photo
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“The girls in the March photo are (L-R) Krystina Ido, Brycelyn Fukuji, Monica Belli, and Stefanie Fujinami. They were all playing on the same basketball team and must have just come from a game to dance at the VJCC Festival. By the way, we didn't even notice Joe Belli in the February photo. He and Jun Oyama and the other dashi chefs will be at it again for the 2006 Festival.” – Dianne Kujubu Belli |
