A Study on the Age of Children in the Shumon-Aratamecho

Abstract

A study of the religious affiliation registration records (Shumon-aratamecho) of Kiyomi village Gifu prefecture for 1830 shows that a large number of entries for "gage 2", accompanied by the zodiacal signs of the sexagenary cycle are recorded. A possible reason for this practice is that delicate children with a low survival probability were notregistered in the year of their birth, but recorded later when they were considered healthy. By this practice, the reporting of birth of a child who had not been previously registered was entered as a two-year-old as a formality, and his zodiacal sign was included to indicate his real age. When the population of young people in the Shumon-aratamecho was revised by considering their zodiacal signs, the birth-rate and the population pyramid attained amore reasonable construct than with the unrevised data. The revised figures thus derived from the zodiacal signs provide additional information in attempts to verify the basis to the 7-5.3 custom (the traditional festival for children of three, five, and seven years of age).