Posted on 09/04/2014 5:28:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Could being born in a year deemed unlucky wind up a self-fulfilling prophecy? That may be what befell Japanese girls born in 1966, otherwise known as a year of the fire horse, or hinoeuma in Japanese.
Women born in such a year, superstition holds, have troubled marriages, mistreat men, and cause early deaths for their husbands and fathers. It was one such woman, according to legend, who nearly burned down the capital in 1682, after setting a local temple on fire for love of a man who worked there. (She was sentenced to burn at the stake.)
In 2010, researchers Hiroyuki Yamada of Osaka University and Satoshi Shimizutani of Japan's Gender Equality Bureau checked in on women born in 1966, the most recent year of the fire horse, to see how they'd fared. The women, the researchers found, were in fact more likely to have been divorced than those close to them in age (born just a few years before or after). They were also less likely to have completed higher education, and their average household income was nearly 500,000 yen (about $5,000) lower.
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...
It’s considered a powerful sign in China. I’m a Fire Horse.
I heard antacids can quell that.
*snicker*
Better than a horses behind.
to this day in modern Japan fear of the Hinoeuma is almost totally undiminished. If couples medically learn their daughter is to be born in such a year they usually hide the birth as far as paperwork is concerned, sometimes for many months, sometimes with the tacit complicity of local authorities.
many Japanese are not really religious in the sense Westerners usually define religiosity but I would say a majority of them are strongly superstitious.
-— many Japanese are not really religious in the sense Westerners usually define religiosity -—
The Japanese are a complete enigma to me.
If it’s the case that parents hide it, do Japanese men have such matters investigated about a potential bride?
- "Weird Al" Yankovich
Given in China it’s a powerful sign, and China has a dearth of women, couldn’t some of these women get married there? I know that may be looked down on in Japan, but if you are already considered bad luck...
such background checks do take place in Japan on a more frequent basis than probably is common in the United States, although it is usually the bride’s family that initiates.
If instead such a check were to come from the groom’s side, as before the parents typically initiate.
A search subject might also bear on current or former Korean-ness or Burakumin-ness.
Some say prestigious companies maintain secret running lists, for employment candidate screening purposes (though all would deny).
Born in 66?
You’re a young thing!
I guess it depends on how many husbands have already died young. Chinese are pretty superstitious.
That’s true.
After many years reading the paper placemat in Chinese restaurants, all I know is that I’m a Sheep. Which, as a conservative, offends me greatly.
LOL!
Japanese people are strange to me too. We have a J. couple living next door to us. She was out in the back yard one day and she saw me in my yard. She started taking small step toward me with her hands together as in prayer and bowing with each step.
When she got close enough to speak to me in her broken English she was able to tell me she had locked herself out of her house and she wanted to use my cell phone to call her husband.
A Texan would have waved and yelled “Hey neighbor can I use your phone?”
“After many years reading the paper placemat in Chinese restaurants, all I know is that I’m a Sheep. Which, as a conservative, offends me greatly.”
How do you think i feel? I am both a sheep, and a capricorn!
Hell, that fits every year for American Women.
I was rding the bullet train in Japan, where the space between seat rows is (unlike on planes today) more than ample. A woman turned around and asked permission before she reclined her seat back. My brother, visiting us there, was stunned. Japanese are frequently extremely polite. (I also found out today that research indicates they only interrupt 1/7 as often as Americans.)
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