Shichi-Go-San (7-5-3) festival

We had a great day with Yukie (the HGU prof who had us for sushi at her house and took us to Mt Moiwa soon after we arrived) today. It is Nov. 15 here, which is the day that Shichi-Go-San (7-5-3) festivals are held at Shinto shrines all around Japan.

According to this website, this is one of the most important festivals for Japanese children and one of three major celebrations in their life. Girls of age three and seven and boys of age five (though in some families three year old boys also) are celebrated on Shichi-go-san.

The website explains that on Shichi-go-san the children dress up in special clothes, including kimono for girls and the pants that samurais wear for boys. They often have professional photographs taken in the morning and then their families take them to a Shinto shrine to give thanks for their health and pray for their continued good health, growth and a happy future free of sickness and misfortune.

The Shinto priest at the shrine performs a purification ceremony and then children are given shitose-ame (thousand year candy) that is colored red and white (the colors of luck and celebration), in long bags decorated with turtles and cranes. These are all symbols of longevity in Japan.

Well, we had three year old girls (and a six year old boy who remembered being five). And while we didn't rent the elaborate kimono, we did decide to go to the biggest Shinto shrine in Hokkaido to watch other Japanese families take part in this ceremony.

So we arrived and purified our hands and mouth, and then went into the shrine. We gave thanks for our health and prayed for continued good health, growth and a happy future for our own little ones. We took pictures of kids in kimono (asking some for permission, and taking others from a respectful distance) and found our own kids the target of photographers again as well (it is starting to drive them crazy, truth be told). And we marvelled at the mild and long fall (unusual, Yukie said) and the vivid colors of the leaves and bushes.

Yukie bought the kids some thousand year candy, which they loved, and I got them some cotton candy as well (which they loved too) and little Chinese horoscope charms (Jack is a horse and Katie and Livie are roosters) as a memento of the day. We meandered back through the park, the kids eating peanut butter sandwiches and running, and Livie taking a hard fall that we didn't fully appreciate until the blood started seeping through her tights (oops! And I have to admit that we were both relieved it wasn't Katie...)



We ended up at a sushi shop, where we met Yukie's husband and ordered lunch to go. The shop and chef are quite famous and award-winning, we learned. Apparently there is the take-out section, where we were, the ordinary restaurant, where Yukie has been once, and the "fancy" restaurant, where sitting down costs you $200!

We then went back to the Ueno's home for lunch. The kids did a miserable job eating the delicious sushi (Yukie had gotten them a cooked, kid-friendly version with egg) and didn't even really try the soup Yukie made, which is always a little frustrating. But we felt less worried when later Kai, Yukie's now 18-year-old daughter, told us that when she and her mom spent a semester in Lethbridge (I think she was in 2nd or 3rd grade), she insisted on ONLY Japanese food the whole time she was there.

We were wiped out when we got home -- and very happy with the great day. We had tacos for dinner (probably NOT the traditional, post-Shichi-Go-San festival fare), but the kids devoured their dinner and now are happily watching new WordGirl episodes on Youtube. What a weird and wonderful life we are leading.