February
27, 2014
Towards
the end of my first visit to Japan in 1984, I experienced my first Shichi Go
San Matsuri. The Seven Five Three Festival
is a joyous celebration of children at Shinto Shrines. Parents proudly bring their children, dressed
in bright colorful kimono and hakama, to their local shrine to be blessed and
to give thanks for their health.
In
November 2013 we were honored to celebrate Shichi Go San with our five year old
“grandson” Kotaro Ohta and his parents in Gifu, Japan.
His mother, Aiko, is one of our “daughters,” a former home stay
student. We started the day at a
photography studio where Kotaro and Aiko were dressed in their traditional
Japanese clothes. What a transformation
from a five year old crazy about Spiderman to a proud samurai in hakama. He was delighted. Amazingly it was Aiko’s first time to wear a
kimono and she chose one from her mother’s collection. After formal photos at the studio we traveled
to a local Shinto Shrine. It’s a bit of
a challenge to get a little samurai into a car seat.
At
the shrine we joined happy crowds of parents, grandparents and gaily dressed
children. Red and pink for girls and
black and gold for boys were predominate.
On the hike up the shrine stairs, Kota’s zori (footwear) would fall off or his fan would drop out of his obi.
But Kaku, his dad, patiently righted the costume each time. At the top of the stairs we entered the
lovely wooden hall and sat on stools during the blessing ceremony. The priest and shrine attendant intoned
prayers that were solemn and short.
On
the way out of the shrine, Aiko stopped at a special booth to pick up Kotaro’s present. It is chitose ame, literally "thousand
year candy," given to children at Shichi-Go-San. Chitose ame
is long, thin, red and white candy, which symbolizes healthy growth and
longevity. It is given in a bag
decorated with a crane and a turtle, which represent long life in Japan. Later we celebrated with a lunch at a udon restaurant..
For
those who are curious, Shichi-Go-San is said to have originated in the Heian
Period (794-1188 AD) amongst court nobles who would celebrate the passage of
their children into middle childhood. The ages 3, 5 and 7 are consistent with
East Asian numerology, which claims that odd numbers are lucky.
Over
time, this tradition passed to the samurai class who added a number of rituals.
Boys of age five could wear hakama
(split trousers) for the first time, while girls of age seven replaced the
simple cords they used to tie their kimono with the traditional obi.
By the Meiji Period (1868-1912), the practice was adopted amongst
commoners as well and included the modern ritual of visiting a shrine to drive
out evil spirits, wish for a long healthy life and to celebrate the growth and well-being
of young children.
