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

Around this time every year it's a Japanese custom for children of the ages 7, 5, & 3 (specifically girls 7 & 3 and boys 5) to get dressed up in their kimonos, visit their local shrine and participate in a good luck ceremony. Many of their mothers and grandmothers and a few fathers were also wearing kimonos which was neat to see. Since Meiji-Jingu is a major shrine in Tokyo it attracts a large amount of Shichi-Go-San participants. There were hundreds of children running around all dressed up, getting their picture taken, etc so there was a lot going on. The ceremony seemed to run at various intervals; there was an initial portion at the entrance of the shrine sanctuary that we could see then each group would head into another part of the shrine for the rest of the ceremony which didn't seem to be public. We were lucky to get to see some of this custom. Besides aren't they cute!