七五三 — 子供の成長を祝う伝統行事

Shichi-Go-San is a traditional event in which children reaching the milestones of ages 3, 5, and 7 wear kimono or hakama and visit Shinto shrines together with their families. With November 15th as its official date each year, families give thanks for their child's healthy growth thus far and pray for healthy rearing from now on. It is said the current form was established when imperial-court and samurai-household ceremonies were consolidated in the Edo period, and in modern times commercialization has advanced remarkably, with peripheral industries such as photo studios, kimono rentals, and on-location photographers forming a major market.

A characteristic of Shichi-Go-San is that the gender of celebrants differs by age. Age 3 includes both boys and girls; age 5 is for boys only; age 7 is for girls only. This originates from three ceremonies consolidated in the Edo period. The age-3 "kamioki" was common to boys and girls — a ceremony to begin growing out hair that had been shaved until then. The age-5 "hakamagi" was the ceremony in which a boy wore hakama for the first time, and the age-7 "obitoki" was the ceremony in which a girl graduated from the infant kimono with attached strings and transitioned to an adult-style sash-tied kimono.

There are various theories on why November 15th was set as the official Shichi-Go-San date, but the most widely known is that it was the day on which the fifth Tokugawa shogun Tsunayoshi conducted a prayer for the health of his eldest son, Tokumatsu. At that time, the ceremony is said to have been held this day praying for the safe growth of the sickly Tokumatsu, and to have subsequently spread to samurai households and the common people. Additionally, November 15th of the old calendar fell on "kishukunichi" — one of the twenty-eight lunar mansions considered the best, auspicious for all matters except weddings — which also forms the background.

On the day, the family heads to their tutelary or a famous shrine and receives a prayer ritual together with the formally dressed child. A Shinto priest recites a Shinto prayer; families offer an offering fee (the going rate is roughly 5,000–10,000 yen) and receive bestowed items such as a talisman, amulet, and sweets. After finishing the worship visit, children receive "chitose-ame" — long red-and-white candy. The name "thousand years" symbolizes the parents' wish that the child "live healthily and long for a thousand years," and the long, thin, hard-to-break candy itself is considered a lucky charm of longevity. The bag is decorated with auspicious patterns such as cranes, turtles, and pine-bamboo-plum.

The attire for Shichi-Go-San differs by age and gender. Boys and girls aged 3 generally wear a sleeveless "hifu" coat over a kimono — an attire that places little burden on the young child since no sash is tied. Boys aged 5 formally wear a family-crested haori and hakama, sometimes with a short sword at the waist. Girls aged 7 wear a "yotsumi" kimono with a sash tied like an adult's, combined with accessories such as shigoki and hakoseko. Dressing and hair styling are often done at specialist shops, and many households are rushed by early-morning preparations on the day.

Which counting system to use for Shichi-Go-San ages is one point of debate that modern households hesitate over. Originally, in the Edo period when the ceremony was systematized, all ages were calculated by "kazoedoshi" (counted age). Counted age treats the time of birth as age 1 and adds one year each time New Year's Day arrives — generating a difference of up to two years from the Western birthday-based "mannenrei" (full age). After the war, with the official calculation of age unified to full age, more households began celebrating Shichi-Go-San by full age, and full age is currently mainstream. However, the flexible practice of using counted age for one sibling and full age for another in order to celebrate together is also general — there is no strict rule.

For modern Shichi-Go-San, photo shooting occupies the core of the event equally with shrine worship. Major photo studio chains such as Studio Alice and Studio Mario provide bundled kimono rental, hair-and-makeup, shooting, and album production; during the busy season of October–November, it is not unusual for reservations to fill up half a year in advance. In recent years, demand for "dispatched-photographer" services — which shoot natural scenes on the day at shrine grounds or nearby parks — has rapidly increased, and a market has formed for easily arranging individual photographers through matching platforms such as Mitsumore, OurPhoto, and fotowa. The going rate is roughly 15,000–30,000 yen per hour, satisfying location-shooting needs distinct from studio shooting.

While the declining birthrate advances, the per-child event budget tends to increase, and Shichi-Go-San has established itself as a major family-wide event including grandparents. With the rise of dual-income households, the trend of dispersing across October–November weekends rather than insisting on November 15th itself has strengthened, and shrines have arranged setups to accept prayer rituals over a long period. Many households also hold post-worship meal gatherings at high-end restaurants or hotels, and the scene of children holding chitose-ame bags lined up with their grandparents is still passed down today as an early-winter seasonal feature of Japan.