Wet nurse - Uba

Japanese: 乳母 - うば

A woman who breastfeeds and raises an infant in place of the mother. In ancient times, among the court nobility, it was customary to have a woman called a menoto, who breastfeeds an infant in addition to the mother. There is a story about a wet nurse in the Kamiyo no Maki chapter of the Nihon Shoki, and wet nurses appear in various records from the Heian period to the early modern period, including the Eiga Monogatari. In the Edo period, this custom was practiced by the shogun family, feudal lords, and private citizens, and wet nurses had great power. It was said that the appearance and nature of the wet nurse were transferred to the infant, so the selection of a wet nurse was strict. In addition, among the common people, there was a custom in childbirth and child-rearing customs in which another woman, rather than the birth mother, fed the infant's first milk. This was called breast-feeding, and was called chiawase, chiwatashi, aichichi, etc. These were a type of ritual in which a relationship with another person was formed before the mother's milk was produced sufficiently, in order to bestow that person's power on the infant. The mother would ask someone with a child of the same age as the newborn baby; if the baby was a boy, she would ask someone with a girl, and if the baby was a girl, she would ask someone with a boy. This is called a "nurse" or "wet mother." In many cases, the nurse and wet mother would continue to have a parent-child relationship even after the newborn baby grew up.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

母親の代りに乳児に授乳し養育する女性。古来宮廷貴族の間では乳人 (めのと) といって，生児のために母親のほかに授乳する女をおくのが常であった。『日本書紀』神代の巻にも乳母の話があり，乳人のことは平安時代以降近世まで，『栄花物語』をはじめ諸記録にみえている。江戸時代には将軍家，諸大名をはじめ民間にもこの慣習が行われ，乳母の権力は大きかった。乳母の容貌や性質は生児に移るといわれ，その選定にはきびしく吟味が加えられた。また庶民の産育習俗にも，生児に最初の乳を与えるのは生母でなく，ほかの婦人があたる慣習があった。これを乳付けといって，チアワセ，チワタシ，アイチチなどと称した。これらは母乳のまだ充分に出ない時期に他人とこのような関係を結んで，その人の力を生児に付与しようとする一種の儀礼である。生児と同じくらいの子をもっている人に頼み，男児の場合は女児をもっている人，女児の場合は男児をもっている人を頼んだ。これを乳付親あるいは乳親 (ちおや) という。乳付親や乳母はともに，生児の成長のあとまで親子の義理をもつ例が多い。

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