{"id":13,"date":"2008-11-15T19:46:28","date_gmt":"2008-11-15T23:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=13"},"modified":"2018-07-27T18:14:01","modified_gmt":"2018-07-27T18:14:01","slug":"shichi-go-san-%e4%b8%83%e4%ba%94%e4%b8%89-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/shichi-go-san-%e4%b8%83%e4%ba%94%e4%b8%89-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Culture: Shichi-Go-San (\u4e03\u4e94\u4e09) Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is a day of pride for parents who have three, five or seven year old girls or boys.\u00a0 Every year on the 15th of November, children ages 3, 5, and 7 celebrate a rite of passage on the Shichi-Go-San (\u4e03\u4e94\u4e09<\/strong>) festival.\u00a0 Shichi (\u4e03<\/strong>) means seven in Japanese, while go (\u4e94<\/strong>)\u00a0= five and accordingly san (\u4e09<\/strong>)\u00a0means three.\u00a0 Why are the ages 3, 5 and 7 chosen as opposed to ages 2 or 4?\u00a0 It’s actually not a random selection of numbers, but a selection based on Japanese numerology and the belief that odd numbers are considered lucky numbers.\u00a0 This tradition goes way back to ancient times; when infant mortality rates were high.\u00a0 If a child had survived the ages 3, 5, and 7, it was considred a good sign that the child would survive into adulthood.<\/p>\n

On this day you will often see children with chitoseame (\u5343\u6b73\u98f4<\/strong><\/span>) in their mouth.\u00a0 Chitoseame (\u5343\u6b73\u98f4<\/strong><\/span>) literally means a “thousand year candy.”\u00a0 Chitoseames (\u5343\u6b73\u98f4<\/strong><\/span>) are long and thin, with red strips.\u00a0 They look a lot like a traditional American candy cane, but without the cane shape.\u00a0 There is\u00a0a special reason as to why the Chitoseame (\u5343\u6b73\u98f4<\/strong><\/span>)\u00a0is red.\u00a0 Red symbolizes vitality and is supposed to represent good health.\u00a0 The longness of the Chitoseame is also symbolic for long life.\u00a0 Additionally, the bags that contain the chitoseame (\u5343\u6b73\u98f4<\/strong><\/span>) are elaborately decorated with cranes and turtles.\u00a0 Cranes and turtles are thought to possess long life and symbolize the hope that parents have for the future of their children.<\/p>\n

The fascinating part though,\u00a0are the traditional Japanese outfits that the children wear.\u00a0 For example you might see a three year old girl wear a hifu (\u3072\u3075<\/strong>) or padded vest.<\/p>\n

\"\"Additionally, a seven year old girl might be seen wearing an obi (\u304a\u3073<\/strong>) for the first time.\u00a0 An obi (\u304a\u3073<\/strong>) is a colorful sash tied to the kimono (\u7740\u7269<\/strong><\/span>).\u00a0 The obi (\u304a\u3073<\/strong>) is tied in an elaborate bow at the back of the kimono (\u7740\u7269<\/strong><\/span>).\u00a0 A kimono (\u7740\u7269<\/strong><\/span>) is a full length traditional Japanese robe. \u00a0I’ll talk more about the kimono (\u7740\u7269<\/strong><\/span>) in another post.<\/p>\n

Let’s not forget the boys!\u00a0 Five year old boys will wear a hakama (\u88c3<\/strong>), which are really baggy trousers.<\/p>\n

The festival is celebrated in the month of November.\u00a0 Therefore it’s a bit cold.\u00a0 The boys may wear a haori (\u306f\u304a\u308a<\/strong><\/span>) on top.\u00a0 A haori (\u306f\u304a\u308a<\/strong><\/span>) is like a Japanese jacket that reaches the knees or the waist.<\/p>\n

It’s common for parents to take lots of pictures of their children dressed in all their glory.\u00a0 Who wouldn’t?\u00a0 The kids look so cute!\u00a0 It’s like the prom, except for little kids!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is a day of pride for parents who have three, five or seven year old girls or boys.\u00a0 Every year on the 15th of November, children ages 3, 5, and 7 celebrate a rite of passage on the Shichi-Go-San (\u4e03\u4e94\u4e09) festival.\u00a0 Shichi (\u4e03) means seven in Japanese, while go (\u4e94)\u00a0= five and accordingly san…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2005,2835],"class_list":["post-13","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-children","tag-shichi-go-san-festival"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6291,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions\/6291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}