Immediately the child is born, the midwife cuts off the umbilical cord, washes the child in warm water, and dresses it in swaddling clothes, after which it is shown to the mother and the rest of the family. The after-birth is put in an earthen dish and covered with another of the same material; the whole case is buried at the front entrance, inside the door if a boy and outside if a girl, the reason for the discrimination being that the latter is destined to leave her home and, therefore, is not a permanent member of the family. It is the custom now to have the case buried in a special ground by a company formed for the purpose. [Illustration: THE FIRST VISIT TO THE LOCAL SHRINE. (FROM A PICTURE BY SUKENOBU).] For the first day or two the child is given an infusion of a seaweed which acts as a purgative; and if the mother is yet too weak, she gets another woman to give it her milk until she is strong enough. She lies with her head propped up high, and the child sleeps with her. On the second day after the birth, the baby is washed again; and on the sixth, friends and relatives are invited to a dinner to celebrate the birth when the child’s name is given to it. The birth is also reported on that day to the local office. The mother does not leave her bed until the twenty-first day; and she is kept at low diet until the seventy-fifth day when she can take the usual food and is considered to be herself again. Until then she is supposed not to be purified and cannot enter a temple or a shrine. On the same day she resumes her household duties. In the meantime, the child is taken on the thirty-first day if a boy and on the thirty-third if a girl, to the shrine of the tutelary deity of the district, where prayers are offered for its welfare. Then calls are made on those friends and relatives who gave presents upon the child’s birth; and it receives from them various toys, the principal of which is a papier-maché dog. Such a dog is always placed at the head of the child’s bed at night as a charm against evil influences.