Tales of Old Japan - Maybe You Like It

known to his intimate relations and friends, not the one by which he
usually goes in society) is usually determined before this date, if it be not
so, he receives his real name from his sponsor on this day. In old days
there used to be a previous ceremony of cutting the hair off the forehead
in a straight line, so as to make two angles: up to this time the youth
wore long sleeves like a woman, and from that day he wore short
sleeves. This was called the "half cutting." The poorer classes have a habit
of shortening the sleeves before this period; but that is contrary to all
rule, and is an evil custom.
A common tray is produced, on which is placed an earthenware winecup.
The sponsor drinks thrice, and hands the cup to the young man,
who, having also drunk thrice, gives back the cup to the sponsor, who
again drinks thrice, and then proceeds to tie up the young man's hair.
There are three ways of tying the hair, and there is also a particular
fashion of letting the forelock grow long; and when this is the case, the
forelock is only clipped. (This is especially the fashion among the nobles
of the Mikado's court.) This applies only to persons who wear the court
cap, and not to gentlemen of lower grade. Still, these latter persons, if
they wish to go through the ceremony in its entirety, may do so without
impropriety. Gentlemen of the Samurai or military class cut off the
whole of the forelock. The sponsor either ties up the hair of the young
man, or else, placing the forelock on a willow board, cuts it off with a
knife, or else, amongst persons of very high rank, he only pretends to do
so, and goes into another room whilst the real cutting is going on, and
then returns to the same room. The sponsor then, without letting the
young man see what he is doing, places the lock which has been cut into
the pocket of his left sleeve, and, leaving the room, gives it to the young
man's guardians, who wrap it in paper and offer it up at the shrine of the
family gods. But this is wrong. The locks should be well wrapped up in
paper and kept in the house until the man's death, to serve as a reminder
of the favours which a man receives from his father and mother in his
childhood; when he dies, it should be placed in his coffin and buried
with him. The wine-drinking and presents are as before.
In the "Sho-rei Hikki," the book from which the above is translated,
there is no notice of the ceremony of naming the child: the following is a
translation from a Japanese MS.:—
"On the seventh day after its birth, the child receives its name; the ceremony
is called the congratulations of the seventh night. On this day
some one of the relations of the family, who holds an exalted position,
either from his rank or virtues, selects a name for the child, which name
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