Coming of Age Day,
known in Japan as Seijin no Hi, falls on
the second Monday in January. On this day, everyone who has reached twenty
years of age in the past year (that is, since the last time Coming of Age Day
was celebrated) celebrates the fact that they have reached the age of
adulthood. More recently, some of the participants have been only nineteen
years old because the day that determines who comes has shifted to April 1, but
the majority are twenty and the purpose remains the same.
In Japan, turning twenty is something
like a combination of turning eighteen and twenty-one in the United States. Not
only does turning twenty confer the legal ability to vote, and smoke as turning
eighteen does in the United States, but Japanese people who have just turned
twenty can also get married without parental permission, drink, and bet on
horse races. Curiously enough, members of the imperial family were recognized
as adults at eighteen, and commoners were acknowledged as adults before age
twenty if they got married beforehand. Men were legally able to marry at
eighteen and women at sixteen, though parental consent is required for this,
and if this course is taken, the young adults are were still unable to drink,
smoke, and gamble.
This
celebration has been held in Japan for hundreds of years, and certainly goes
back to at least 741 AD, as records show that the prince at that time changed
his hairstyle to reflect his entrance into adulthood. Originally, by the 8th
century AD, coming of age ceremonies primarily applied to men, and was
celebrated by a genpuku ceremony (sometimes called kakan), and by
the receipt of an adult clothing, hairstyle, and name.
 |
| The difference in clothing and hairstyle between a young boy (left) and an adult man (right). |
Women celebrated in a
ceremony called mogi, which similarly centered around the presentation
of adult clothing, but included thick makeup, painted eyebrows, and blackened
teeth.
 |
| Westerners guessed that this was to protect women by making them intentionally unattractive to discourage exta-marital relationships. |
These early celebrations occurred at less set ages. Boys often were
considered adults once they reached a certain height, and women generally were
somewhere between the ages of twelve and sixteen. These ceremonies were both
performed at a shrine. During the Edo period (1603-1868), boys reached the age
of adulthood at fifteen, while girls became adults at thirteen. These ages
remained the beginning of legal adulthood until 1876, when it was changed to
twenty for both genders.
Coming of Age Day as it now exists
was established in 1948, and was originally held on January 15th
every year. Its resurgence was a result of post-war concerns for the spirits of
young people and to encourage them as they transitioned from childhood to
adulthood. However, in 2000, due to the Happy Monday System, which aimed to
move national holidays to Mondays in order to create three day weekends for
those who worked the typical Monday to Friday schedule, the day of celebration
was moved to the second Monday of January, as it is today.
Young adults celebrating the holiday
tend to dress formally. Most men wear suits, though this is not universal and
there are some who chose to wear more traditional clothing, such as dark kimono
with hakama (a type of very wide pants that have become more closely
associated with kendo [Japanese fencing] recently), to the ceremony.
 |
| Men wearing both traditional and western clothing for Seijin no Hi |
Women
typically wear furisode, which are often considered the most formal
thing an unmarried woman can wear. It consists of a kimono with very
long sleeves and elaborate patterns, and is worn together with zouri
sandals. Because putting on kimono is such an elaborate task, most women
who wear them have to go to a salon in order to get assistance putting them on.
Similarly, because furisode are so expensive (generally costing between $1000
and $3000 to rent, and $10,000 or more to buy), most women either rent them or
borrow them, as they cost too much to buy to wear just once. For a young woman,
the coming of age ceremony is the most formal even they will attend before their
marriage.
 |
| Women wearing furisode |
The ceremony itself, called seijin
shiki, is arranged by local city offices (though other local organizations
such as schools and corporations sometimes help as well), and takes place in
the morning. It generally consists of speeches given by government officials giving
the new adults advice for the future, and often small presents are given to the
new adults. However, in more recent years, some disturbances have begun
cropping up during the ceremonies. Problems such as people talking on cell
phones, setting off fireworks, and heckling have resulted in a many localities either
cancelling their festivities or shortening the speeches and trying to make the
ceremony more fun by including things like entertainment or karaoke (Urayasu
city in Chiba prefecture actually holds its ceremony at Tokyo
Disneyland), and the number of disturbances has declined as of 2010.
There has
also been a new trend arising as of 2010, in which the parents of those
reaching the age of majority also attend the ceremony. Before this, it was rare
for parents to attend, and this may reflect an attempt to reduce the number of
disturbances during the ceremony.
Some regions celebrate slightly
differently. In many northern areas the ceremony is held later in the year, as
heavy snowfalls would frequently disrupt a mid-January celebration. Often these
regions choose to hold their coming of age celebrations during Golden Week,
which falls in early May and allows more people to return to their hometowns.
One small village in Okinawa celebrates Coming of Age Day by having the shin
seijin (or new adults) perform a dance to thank the other townspeople for
their support.
People will often celebrate more privately
after the official ceremony. This can include visiting local shrines, going to
parties, going shopping, and going out to drink. These activities are typically
undertaken with friends and/or family. Because of the celebration after the
actual ceremony, many people who have moved away return to their hometowns in
order to celebrate Seijin no Hi.
Recently, concern has arisen due to
the shrinking attendance at each year’s ceremony. This is partially due to
Japan’s falling birthrate, which is expected to transfer into a decline in
population as a whole within the next five years, and partially due to
decreased participation of those eligible to attend. At the holiday’s peak in
1976, 2.76 million young adults participated. However, as of 2012, attendance
had fallen for five years in a row, and only 1.22 million participated.
Sources:
