The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
Misc
 japanese numeric superstitions




From: Masahiro Mimura <mimurama@pilot.msu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: RE: Five and Japan (was Re: Bungee miscalculation)
Date: 2 Feb 1996 11:41:19 GMT

allin1@schools.minedu.govt.nz (Steve Caskey) wrote:

[snip]

>My sister confirms that 4 and 9 sound like "bad" words (four = shi =
>death*) but doesn't specifically attribute the sets-of-five practice to
>this. She tells me that where we buy things in sets of four, six, or
>eight, the Japanese commonly go for sets of three, five, or seven. Her
>host family expressed surprise at our predilection for even numbers.
>Louise also speculated that the number three might relate to the
>single-child family in some way, but that _is_ just speculation.
>

And nine = _ku_ = pain. So hospitals there never have a room number with four or nine. Even pachinko parlors don't put those numbers on their machines. This is just a common superstition like, say, black cats. Nowadays, nobody takes it that seriously, except the old and the religous.

Avoiding even numbers is another common superstition. An even number is thought of as representing a lack of harmony because it can be divided by two. On a wedding, things are prepared in odd numbers in the hope that the couple will stay together. In formal Japanese restaurants, dishes are served with odd-numbered pieces of meat, fish or vegetable. In this case, they simply wish their customers a good luck or they hope their customers will come again.

I don't know exactly why things are often sold in a set of five. My guess is that three is not enough and seven is too many (thus expensive) for an average family.

>Perhaps we should be asking ourselves why _we_ have this thing about _even_
>numbers?

I'm looking forward to it.

>
>Steve "English-speaking people favour the number 4 because
> it sounds like a synonym for a leading position" Caskey
>
>* any error here is mine.
>--
>Steve Caskey, aka allin1@schools.minedu.govt.nz
>Just another mindless public servant at the Ministry of Education

--
Masa Mimura
mimurama@pilot.msu.edu


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