| Have you ever wondered about... |
Ga No Iwai or Toshi No Iwai? |
Source Information: Anecdotal Information
Source Information: Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii FAQs: Traditions
Source Information: We Japanese, by Frederic de Garis, and Atsuharu Sakai,
Books I, II, and III combined, 2002, Kegan Paul Limited, England.
By Emy Murakawa
I’ve touched on kanreki and some of the other special birthday celebrations in previous articles (Jyuni-E), but thought I would flesh this subject out a bit.
Ga no iwai or toshi iwai are Japanese rites of passage celebrated at various ages to pray for long life. This tradition was brought to Japan from China and originally was celebrated once every ten years beginning when one turned 40 according to the traditional Japanese method of calculating age. Since the sixteenth century, ga no iwai has come to be celebrated beginning when one turns 60 (kanreki), and subsequently at ages 70 (koki), 77 (kiju), 80 (sanju), 88 (beiju), 90 (sotsuju), and 99 (hakuju).
| The 60th birthday is called kanreki, the recognition of a “second infancy,” and is probably the most well-known of the ga no iwai. The Japanese characters in the word kanreki literally mean “return” and “calendar.” The traditional calendar, which was based on the Chinese calendar, was organized on 60-year cycles. The cycle of life returns to its starting point in 60 years, and as such, kanreki celebrates that point in life when one’s personal calendar has returned to the birth calendar sign. Kanreki thus marks the year of starting over again. Traditionally, friends and relatives are invited for a celebratory feast on one’s 60th birthday. It is customary for the celebrant to be given a red hood and a red vest (akai-chanchanko) to wear. These clothes are typically |  |
worn by babies and thus symbolize the celebrant’s return to his birth. At one time, it was believed that demons did not like red, and red was used in swaddling clothes. Also, the Japanese word for baby, Aka-chan (Dear Red One), and the donning of the red clothes signify karenki’s “return to infancy” or rebirth.
The celebration of one’s 77th birthday is another example of ga no iwai. Age 77 is the “joyous year,” and to live until that age is indeed fortunate. The Japanese characters for kiju literally mean “joy” and “long life.”
The celebration of one’s 88th birthday, known as beiju or “yone-no-iwai,” became popular since the Japanese characters for “88,” when written together, resemble the character for “rice” (yone, also read as bei). From the very beginning of history, rice was respected by the people, for it was their food, their life, their very livelihood and happiness. An integral and fundamental part of Japanese society, rice symbolized purity and goodness. Thus the 88th birthday is celebrated as a happy and joyous occasion.
What about yakudoshi, or bad luck ages? Yaku means “calamity” or “calamitous” and doshi signifies “year(s).” These years are considered critical or dangerous because they are believed to bring bad luck or disaster.
For men, the ages 24 and 41 (or 25 and 42 in Japan) are deemed critical years, with 41 being especially critical. It is customary in these unlucky years to visit temples and shrines to provide divine protection from harm. It has become a tradition among more and more Japanese-American men to celebrate the 41st birthday with a festive yakudoshi party or gathering to ward off the bad luck or disaster that may strike. The birthday person should wear red (the Asian color of joy) to bring good luck, good health, vitality and long life.
The equivalent yakudoshi ages for women are 18 and 32 (19 and 33 in Japan), with 32 thought to be a particularly hard, terrible or disastrous year. Like the age 41 for men, precautions are taken to ward off bad luck, and some Japanese-American women celebrate their 32nd birthday with a special yakudoshi party.
We customarily celebrate birthdays in a grand way for infants and children. And now, knowing about ga no iwai and yakudoshi, we have license to celebrate even as adults. Any excuse for a party! Works for me!
By Gail Sharp
What can you tell us about these pictures? Who are all of these people? What were they doing? What significance to our Community Center do the photos represent?
Because the Newsletter is on vacation during the month of August, readers have two whole months to piece together all of the information contained in these four ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT photos – oops, did I give away a hint? I expect my answering machine and email to be overflowing with messages!
Contact us via email with the subject "Talk Story" and the date of the article.
July Photo 1
July Photo 2
July Photo 3
July Photo 4
June Photo
Sumi-e exhibit at the VJCC Summer Festival |
“The ladies in the picture are (from l-r): Mrs. Ryoko Shibata, Mrs. Marie Miyashiro and Mrs. Fumiko Kamimori.” ~ Elinor Suzuki “It looks like the Sumi-e [exhibit] at the Festival.” ~ Ryoko Naruo Thank you, Elinor and Ryoko! Considering that everyone was busy getting ready for the 2006 VJCC Festival, it is understandable that responses were short and concise. I can’t wait to see what else shows up with regard to the June photo when I open all of the emails that I anticipate receiving during July and August. |
