“Don’t cut your nails at night, or you won’t be able to be with your parents when they die.”
Japan has many old superstitions like this. Of course, not everyone believes them literally today. Plenty of people would laugh and say, “That can’t possibly be true.”
And yet, the thought may still pop into their head the moment they are about to cut their nails at night.
That is what makes superstition interesting.
There is a wide space between “I believe this” and “I never think about it at all.” Someone may remember the saying, laugh about it, and then cut their nails anyway. They might even say, “You’re not supposed to cut your nails at night, though,” while doing exactly that.
In other words, the superstition can remain in the mind even when it no longer changes behavior.
But the opposite can happen too. A person may not truly believe that anything bad will happen, yet still think, “Well, I can easily avoid it, so why not?” If breaking the superstition brings no real benefit, there may be no reason to deliberately do something considered unlucky.
There is also the possibility of regret afterward. If something unfortunate happens later, even a person who does not seriously believe in the superstition may briefly wonder, “Was it because I ignored it?” Avoiding the superstition can simply prevent that small feeling of unease.
Other people matter too. You may personally think a superstition is meaningless, but if a family member or someone else involved cares about it, there is often little reason to upset them. In situations such as weddings, funerals, or gift-giving, ideas about luck and superstition can therefore function less like personal belief and more like consideration for others.
So attitudes toward superstition in Japan do not divide neatly into believers and nonbelievers.
Some people follow a superstition while laughing about it. Some remember it and break it anyway. Others do not believe it, but still think, “If it is easy to avoid, I might as well avoid it.”
One reason old superstitions survive is this ambiguous distance: people may not truly believe them, but they have not completely disappeared from people’s minds either.
References
National Diet Library Reference Collaborative Database, “Why is it said that you should not cut your nails at night?”
National Diet Library Search, Why Shouldn’t You Cut Your Nails at Night? — The Wisdom Hidden in Japanese Superstitions
