Nakizumo is a curious Japanese custom where parents hand over their infants to a pair of sumo wrestlers who try to make the babies cry for the good luck of the child.

Nakizumo at first, second, and possibly third glance looks like some kind of bizarre baby psychological torture but the ritual is actually for the babies’ health and wellbeing.

The gyoji (referee) will goad the babies on by yelling “nake! nake!” which means cry. The wrestlers will gently rock the babies and grimace at them. If that doesn’t work then the judges come into the ring with devil masks to scare the little ones into crying. The first baby to cry wins.

All of this may seem like some bizarre baby bullying but in old days when infant mortality was high a crying baby was seen as a healthy baby. The custom reflects an old Japanese saying which is “Naku ko wa sodatsu” (crying babies grow fastest).

Some babies cry immediately while others look on in bemusement at their elders acting so silly in an incomprehensible ritual that they will only appreciate many years later when they bring their own children to participate in a continual cultural cycle.

Nakizumo goes back some 400 years and parents still bring their babies to temples and shrines to have them scared for their own good luck and long life.

Nakizumo at Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyp

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