МАЭ № 13-34/6

Three-Five-Seven (Shichi-go-san) ceremony

Japanese

1820-s

silk textile, Japanese watercolours, ink, Japanese washigami paper, glue

34.7 × 46.0

Shichigosan (7-5-3) is a ritual performed for girls aged seven and three and boys aged five. Its implications include purification. The ritual is performed on November 15. Children of the ages indicated above (who are seen as facing unlucky years) are taken to the shrine dressed in colorful garments. Their family members pray to the god to protect the children from misfortune. In this painting we see a child being dressed up for this event. The three women surrounding the boy are helping out. One of them (the boy’s mother?) is tying up his hair. The second woman (to her left) is spreading out a haori decorated with the family crest. Beside it a hakama has been carefully laid on the tatami. The third woman (to her right, possibly the grandmother on the father’s side) is overseeing the proceedings. In the next room, two women are helping a three year-old girl with a shaved head put on her obi. The small "house" with a roof is a well.

Ethnographic drawing