The Japanese Crying Baby Festival

I love Japanese culture. At times I find myself scratching my head in confusion with their culture. It fascinates me, and I would love to visit sometime in the future. The more I read, the more the country calls me. During my research session, I found quite an unusual festival and, with the spirit of Japan, managed to quite literally stop me from reading and question what I was reading. Let's talk about sumo wrestlers making babies cry for good luck.

Every year, the tranquil atmosphere inside Japan's Sensoji Temple is shattered by the cries of screaming babies. The 400-year-old Nakizumo Crying Baby Festival, which is precisely what it sounds like, attracts large audiences to the temple grounds to see newborns compete against each other. Each baby is matched with a sumo wrestler whose job is to make the baby weep in front of the opponent.

The Rules

The unconventional party was inspired by the Japanese adage "Naku ko wa sodatsu," which translates to "crying babies develop." This is the popular assumption that crying newborns will grow up to be robust and healthy. Furthermore, it is said that wailing babies might keep off evil spirits. The competition's rules are simple: the first person to cry wins. The sumo referee is tasked with the unpleasant chore of making the babies cry, which can be accomplished through various tactics that are sufficient to cause the newborns to cry without being cruel. One method is for the referee to continually chant "Naki Naki," which translates to "Cry! Cry!" into the babies' faces.

Another approach is to startle the babies by wearing a terrifying mask. The mask is usually of the bird demon tengu, which is one of the evil spirits said to be attracted to the sound of crying newborns. In the meantime, the sumo wrestler gently jiggles the infant up and down in the air to assist get the tears flowing. Sumo wrestlers may sometimes make strange expressions at the babies, making the already amusing competition even funnier. If one of the babies begins to cry first, that baby is the winner of the duel. However, if both babies start to wail simultaneously, the one who cries the loudest and hardest wins.

The Popularity

Japanese parents are so enthusiastic about the event that they enter their one-year-olds every year. Some contests grow so popular that parents must enter their children through a lottery system. While parents can discover smaller versions of the Naki Sumo Crying Baby Festival in their neighbourhood or town, the main event occurs every year in the Sensoji Temple in Tokyo's Asakusa area. This long-standing tradition attracts visitors and residents alike from all across the country. The objective of the celebration, which may appear to be a traumatic event for a youngster, is to ensure that the baby, or the best crier, has a long and healthy life ahead of them. Not to mention that the sight of husky sumo wrestlers attempting to handle wailing babies is amusing, albeit odd. It's unclear who baby earned this year's champion crier title in Japan, but now that the competition is complete, it appears that all of the newborns have won.

I spent a couple of minutes figuring out if I'd enjoy my child being in such a festival; I'm still not sure. I then thought if I wanted to be the baby in the festival, which was much easier to answer – of course! To be held by a sumo wrestler, and for the sake of my future, I can spare a couple of tears. As long as no harm is caused to anyone, and it's done for the best of the baby rather than just wanting to make a baby cry, I'm okay with it. The festival must be loud, but I would love to witness it for myself in the future.

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