2008/03/31 by 純 柴田 · 1 voice
Engineering · Social Sciences · #Legal and Regulatory Analysis #Linguistic, Cultural, and Literary Studies #Military Technology and Strategies
paper · pdf · doi:10.15024/00001551
openalex publication_date 2008/03/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The claim made by Yanagida Kunio that “Until the age of seven a child belongs to the gods” (“Nanatsu mae wa kami no uchi”) became linked with the theory of the rebirth of an infant and became accepted within folklore studies. Today, in a variety of disciplines it is said that this concept has existed since the ancient period. However, the author contends that this expression is no more than a common saying that was used in only some regions after the arrival of the modern period. In order to substantiate this assertion, this paper makes a tentative examination of the question of social consciousness from a historical perspective as it considers how attitudes towards children have changed since the ancient period. In the first chapter the author shows how the Ritsuryo regulations absolving children under the age of seven of any responsibilities and not requiring parents to wear mourning attire upon the death of a child were combined as a result of a new Buddhist interpretation by officials who clarified legal standards in the early 10th century. It is shown that the exemption of children from wearing mourning attire in the event of the death of a parent or their own death was a measure undertaken to enable the smooth performance of a Shinto ceremony to which noble society attached the utmost importance. The second chapter describes how in the Early Modern period Shinto ceremonies that had been vital for the preservation of society in the ancient and medieval periods assumed a lesser role in relative terms, which altered consciousness regarding children. The paper shows that the absence of mourning attire came to be viewed as a kind of privilege and that regulations for warriors regarding mourning attire became accepted among the common people even though they had been aimed at the warrior class. Perceptions regarding children in the Early Modern period are also described. In addition, the concept of the protection of children developed as a consciousness of “children as treasures” became common with the establishment of families among the common people. The author also demonstrates that this concept applied not only to children in general but to abandoned children as well, as illustrated through the establishment of regulations prohibiting their abandonment. Lastly, the author looks at four specific examples of the expression “Until the age of seven a child belongs to the gods” and demonstrates how in the context of the historical process outlined above they are no more than sayings that came into being in the modern period.