These are Some of the Cutest Photographs!

Shichi-Go-San photos are fun and make great memories

Shichi-Go-San occurs on November 15th every year and is when young Japanese children of three, five, and seven years old dress up (usually in ornate kimonos) and have formal photographs taken of them for family photo albums. The tradition started in the Heian era as a way to celebrate the different stages of growth in the early years of a child’s life. Three years old is when girls and boys stop having their heads shaved and can start growing their hair out long. Five years old is when boys can start wearing pants with their kimonos. And seven years old is when girls could start wearing obies with their kimonos.

Over time the aristocratic practices started being adopted by the common people, especially during the Edo period. By the Meiji era Shichi-Go-San was widely popular, so the date and modern practices were decided upon at this time. November 15th was chosen as an unusually lucky day because of the double set of odd numbers in the date and the fifteenth of every month was a time for all demons to have a rest. The concept of odd numbers as lucky was an importation from China.

References

In English

https://www.nippon.com/en/features/jg00043/shichi-go-san.html

https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/calendar/november/shichigosan.html

In Japanese

https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/七五三

http://www.studio-mario.jp/event/753/know/sgs02.html

Photo thanks to Ellie Nakazawa @ Flickr.com.

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