Information Education Bulletin No. 21, October 4, 1945 Page: 5 of 14
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After leaving grammar school most young people in rural areas began
their apprenticeship in farming, either aiding their parents or working
for some other family as manservant or maidservant. From some areas,
large numbers of girls go to work in factories for 2 or 3 years before
marriage. At the age of 21, conscription takes, in peace timer from a
fourth to a third of the young men for a period of military train g.
On their return a marriage is arranged •
Marriage, Marriage in Japan is a distinctly family affair. In
the delicate negotiations and investigations into family background a
go-between is essential. Gifts are exchanged between bride and groom
before and at marriage. Most of the gilts of the bride's ami y, su
as footgear, and packages of tea, come in pairs. The wedding ceremony
consists of an exchange of rice wine between bride and groom and bride
and groom's father to seal the bonds of marriage and indicate that the
bride has entered a new family. There is no priest involved in the
ceremony; instead the go-between is the master of ceremonies.
Marriage is the greatest social event there is for the families
concerned, for through marriage come children, and on children the fut r
welfare of the family depends. Through heirs a man’s memorial tablets
are properly cared for. Because of its importance, relatives Iiom r he
and near are invited. The neighborhood's interest in the event is usual y
recognized by a second special banquet whereby the new bride is intro-
duced to the people of her husband’s community •
In rural regions practically everyone is married unless feoble-
minded or leprous. There is also a special fear of tuberculosis which
may act as a barrier to marriage. Through the family arrangement of
marriages, it is rare that a man marries outside his social class.
At marriage a wife takes the Buddhist sect of her husband, and his
ancestors become her ancestors. She is buried in the husband s fam x
graveyard. An exception to these general rules is marriage by adopt -
whereby a family with a daughter but no son adopts a husband forthis
daughter, who then changes his name to hers, and wnose children beco e
heirs of her family, not his.
4. Death. Death, the transition of the soul from earth to an the
afterworld, is largely the concern of the Buddhist priests. They are th
ones who conduct the funeral and perform the memorial services for
dead These services, attended by relatives, are performed every seventh
day after the death for 7 weeks. The forty-ninth-day ceremony is akonoun .
as hiaki and marks the end of intensive mourning during which relatthird,
abstain from eating fish. There are also ceremonies on the fir tld
and seventh years as well as other intervals up to the fiftieth is to
one-hundredth year after death. The purposes of these services 1S-----
insure the deceased
is performed may it
the living.
a place i
paradise. Only after the last of these
be said that a man ceases
to influence the lives
of
In rural areas a funeral, like any other
assistance such as a fire or a housebuilding,
neighbors. They prepare funeral objects such
family event requiring
calls for aid from all the
as lanterns and coffin as
5
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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/m1/5/?q=%22%22~1&rotate=90: 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.