Passage from Youth to Adulthood in Japan

Abstract

Coming of age, as one of the major transitions in the human life cycle, marks the threshold between childhood and adulthood. This transition involves the physical and psychological, as well as the social maturity of the individual. The present article discusses the contemporary practice of the Japanese coming of age ritual, known as seijinshiki, which although it is a relatively modern invention, is nourished by a century-long tradition of coming of age rituals as well as by the traditional world-view on the human life cycle. Today, the ceremony is facing a new challenge due to the upcoming changes in the age of legal adulthood in Japan. Seijinshiki is an excellent example of how change is integrated as well as reflected throughout ritual practice. It vividly reflects social processes as well as mirroring several problems that Japanese society has been facing in our own time. The paper will examine some of these problems together with the major changes that affected the various forms of coming of age rites in Japan across history. The paper also demonstrates that ritual continues to be regarded in Japan as a valid social and individual instrument to treat passages in human life.