Rites of Passage and the Technology of the Representation of Childhood

国際教育環境学講座助教授 : 教育人類学International Education Environmentology Laboratory，Assistant Professor, Education AnthropologyAA11322536Representation for childhood are shown in tow ways during the rites of passage for children in industrialized society. One way is represented through manipulating symbols and symbolic behaviors in the ritual process. Another is represented in photographic image, which are customarily taken during the ritual. Some anthropologists have been trying to understand the archaic image of childhood by interpreting symbols and practices in rituals for children, but have not referred to the visual image of children in photographs which are usually taken during the rituals. In this paper, the author, referring to Japanese traditional rites of passage \u22Hatsutanjyo (初誕生)\u22 for celebrating the first year of childhood, is trying to examine the ways of representing childhood during the rites of passage in modern souci-cultural contexts where photography is penetrated into everyday life. In traditional society, the image of childhood has been represented symbolically through ritual. But now in industrialized society, images are also represented visually by photographs of the ritual ceremony. The visual images of childhood have been represented in family portraits since 17th century among Europeans. In the 19th century, the role of representation has been taken over by family photographs. This custom soon become very popular all over the world. Many people now take photographs during the ceremony of rites of passage for their children. Taking photographs of children during the ritual is becoming an important ritual itself in the process of rites of passage for children in modem society