Shichi-go-san

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Shrine visit at Shichi-go-san in Katori (Chiba)

Shichi-go-san ( Japanese 七五 三 ; literally: "Seven-five-three") is a festival for children in Japan when they have reached a certain age (three and five for boys, three and seven for girls). It takes place on November 15th every year and is celebrated all over Japan, but especially in the Kantō region.

At Shichi-go-san, the children are accompanied by their parents (and often grandparents) to the Shinto shrine of the family's Ujigami . The children (and often the older female relatives as well) are dressed in their best, traditional clothing (including kimono and hakama ) on this occasion . At the shrine people pray out of gratitude for their happiness so far and for future health and safety. It is also customary to buy red and white candy canes called chitose-ame ( 千 歳 飴 ; literally "thousand year candy") for the children . This custom probably originated at the Kanda Myōjin ( 神 田 明 神 ) in Chiyoda or at the Asakusa Shrine in Taitō .

The Shichi-go-san probably arose from the mixture of various rites of passage from the aristocratic class and the samurai class, which marked the transition of the offspring from the age of the toddler ( 幼 児 , yōji ) to that of the child ( 児 童 , jidō ). For centuries, the Shichi-go-san existed alongside a wide variety of such rites of passage (such as the Buddhist jūsan mairi ( 十三 参 り ), which is mainly celebrated in the Kansai region ). It was not until the Taishō period that Shichi-go-san became the most popular festival of its kind.

November 15 is traditionally an auspicious day in the traditional Japanese calendar , but it was not until the fifth Tokugawa - Shogun , Tokugawa Tsunayoshi , firmly associated with the Shichi-go-san, after this was for his son, Tokugawa Tokumatsu ( 徳 川 徳 松 ; 1679 –1683), had appropriate rites held on this date.

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