Seven, Five and Three

Shichi-Go-San (seven-five-three) is the Shinto rite of passage for young children, observed in mid-November, marking the ages of three, five and seven, traditionally three for both boys and girls, five for boys and seven for girls. Families dress the children, often in formal kimono, and visit a shrine to give thanks for the child's growth and to pray for continued health and a long life.

The ages reflect older understandings of childhood milestones, and the festival is popularly associated with a distinctive sweet, the long red-and-white chitose-ame, thousand-year candy, whose name expresses the wish for longevity. Though its origins lie in court and samurai customs of earlier centuries, its present nationwide form took shape more recently, and it is today one of the most familiar family occasions in Japan, valued as much for the marking of a child's growing up as for its religious observance at the shrine.