The younger generations have little choice but to abide by the teachings of the Shinto—from an early age, strict practices as part of the ceremonies are instilled within them and are usually passed down over the years. The hatsuiyamairi (first shrine visit) is a ceremony normally held after a child is a month old, to ask for the Kami’s blessing on the baby. Another example of such practice is the dedicatory festival of shichi-go-san, translated in Engl

ish as seven-five-three. This is one of the earliest Shinto ceremonies that a child goes through in Japan, and occurs at the ages of three, five, and seven years of age during the autumn season. Not just seen as a festival created to send a request for a healthy and joyous life, the shichi-go-san, in conjunction with the hatsumiyamairi, are viewed more as “‘rites instill[ing] respect for the Kami as well as the feeling that the Kami is intimately involved in that child’s development, much as a kindly relative is’” (Nelson 161). This is basically stating that a parent must devoutly place a child through rigid Shinto practice to be assured the child will become an honorable person. Nelson goes on to say that these public events of a person’s life in Japan “are two of the many ways that a culture gets practiced via a Shinto-inspired orientation to the season and cycles one encounters” verifying the strict applications of Shinto in the lives of innocent children (Nelson 161).

I believe that the earlier in life a person has knowledge of certain teachings, the less likely he will break away from those teachings in the future. This practice shows the subtle, yet effective, indirect control Shinto has on Japanese society, being placed on younger generations through parents who once took part of the same festivals. For the fact that many newer generations of Japanese do not know their country’s basic history and principles, the stern approach of getting children to participate in the festivals each year is beneficial to the preservation and increased spread of Shinto. Thus the powerful Shinto guides the Japanese society in the way to live. This forceful approach to teaching children is justified when a priest is noted saying that the main way children learn about ethics and morality is when he goes to school to teach in a class similar of a preschool for Shintoism. This forceful Shinto affect only progresses into larger, more elaborate festivals of which children and adults participate (Nelson 118).

My reasoning suggests Okunchi to be one of the single most influential festivals that clearly show the powerful and forceful nature of the Shinto on Japanese people (Nelson 137). I

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