ABSTRACT
By the time I moved from Nakamachi to Morikawa at the beginning of February 1996, there were just seven weeks of the school year remaining, and the attention of teachers and children was starting to be focused on the sixth years’ approaching graduation. For the sixth years, the graduation ceremony and the associated events that preceded it were the climax, not only of the year, but of their entire six years at primary school. Both primary schools and their teachers put considerable efforts into trying to make these weeks a memorable and significant experience. What went on during this time represented an attempt to give shape to self and social reality, shape that would retain significance into the future through memory. The events of these weeks spotlighted certain social and cultural values; moreover, the effort and orchestration that went into this rite of passage communicated not only the end of one life-stage, but also the intrinsic importance of ritual itself.
