Gempuku
Gempuku was the samurai coming-of-age ceremony. [1] Occurred between ages 13-21, typically 16. [2]
Learning[]
Samurai children enrolled in their chosen school somewhere between the ages of eight and ten, spending the next several years in the dōjō learning the skills they needed to serve their clan. When they had mastered the first technique of their school, typically between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, their full-time education was considered complete, and the child prepared for his or her gempuku. [3]
Ceremony[]
Gempuku was the greatest day of a samurai's young life, the day they become an adult, graduating from their academy dōjō in the coming-of-age ceremony and becoming a full-fledged member of the clan. Usually, this occurred sometime around a samurai's sixteenth year and most involved tests of some sort. Should the young samurai pass, they were gifted with a wakizashi. [4]
Traditions[]
Every family and clan had elaborate customs and traditions associated with gempuku, often quite rigorous and unique ones. However, there were three elements that all gempuku ceremonies shared in common: the challenge, some sort of test or challenge in which the student must display mastery of their training; the naming ceremony, a ceremony in which they chose their adult name, swearing oaths of fealty to their family and clan, which was received by a high-ranking samurai; the daishō, which was received by the now-adult samurai, representing the samurai's soul and honor, which marked the final transition into adulthood and full membership in the samurai caste. [3]
External Links[]
- A New Name (Bonds of Blood)
References
- ↑ Risen from the Flames, by Robert Denton III
- ↑ Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 330
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 36
- ↑ Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 12
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