Every November 15th, Japan observes the Seven-Five-Three Festival, a day that celebrates children ages seven, five and (you guessed it!) three.

This is a great topic to talk about with your Japanese students, because even if they don’t have kids, they’ll remember celebrating it growing up! It’s also a chance to bring up children-related topics with students in other countries.

So what does this festival mean for Japanese people? What questions can we ask our students (Japanese or not)? What relevant vocabulary (bolded below) can we introduce?

The Basics of Seven-Five-Three

For starters, the festival doesn’t celebrate all children ages seven, five, and three. It celebrates three-year-old boys, five-year-old boys and girls, and seven-year-old girls.

I heard the Seven-Five-Three Festival celebrates children seven, five, and three years old. Do you know why these ages were chosen?
Why do you think the Seven-Five-Three Festival celebrates boys and girls of different ages?
What's the difference between Seven-Five-Three Festival and Children's Day?

If you can’t wait until lesson time to learn about the festival, read this article to see the answers to the above questions!

In the meantime, the following are some questions you can ask your students from other countries:

Are there any special celebrations for children in your country besides birthdays? (In South Korea and Taiwan, people often celebrate their child’s first birthday by dressing them up and having them choose an object that represents a possible future career.)
What ages are considered milestones in a child’s life?
I heard that there is a traditional way to count age in East Asia. Can you tell me anything about that?

The holiday isn’t necessarily celebrated on November 15th because it is not a public holiday. As a result, families often celebrate it the weekend before or after. In big cities, some people even celebrate it a couple of months in advance to beat the crowds.

Do you know why November 15th was chosen as the day to celebrate this holiday?
Do you think the Seven-Five-Three Festival should be a public holiday? Why? Why not?
Did your family celebrate the Seven-Five-Three festival? What do you remember about the celebration?
Is the Seven-Five-Three Festival a family-only celebration or are friends invited too?
I hear that many families celebrate Seven-Five-Three in advance to beat the crowds. How far in advance would you be willing to celebrate the holiday?
(This question is for people with kids.) How do you plan on celebrating the Seven-Five-Three Festival?

How People Celebrate

As this is a special occasion, the whole family dresses up. In the past, this usually meant traditional clothing for the children, such as the kimono for girls and the hakama for boys. However, in recent years, western-style dresses and suits have become popular as well.

On what occasions have you worn traditional clothing?
On what occasions do children wear formal clothing in your country?
Do you prefer wearing traditional clothing or formal western-style clothing on special occasions?
Do people buy or rent formal clothing for their children?
Have you ever had clothing custom-made?

After being dressed up, children are then taken to shrines, where the family gives thanks for their growth and prays for their health and happiness. Some families hire a priest to perform a traditional ritual, though this is becoming increasingly rare.

A child ringing a bell before making a prayer

The entire time, family members takes lots of pictures of their children, so you could say that the event doubles as a photo-shoot.

After praying at the temple, many families also take their children to have real photo-shoots at professional photography studios. After all, this is a day to remember!

Some families even skip the shrine visit and just do photo shoots!

Do you remember getting a lot of photos taken for your Seven-Five-Three celebration?
How do kids stay still for all those photos? Won’t they get impatient and start fidgeting?
When do you go to shrines or temples? Are there any shrines or temples near you?
When do people go to shrines and when do people go to temples?

If you’re out and about on this day, in addition to seeing kids in nice clothing you’ll also see them holding bags that have lots of auspicious imagery printed on them:

The words on the bag say, “thousand year candy,” which look like this:

As you might guess, thousand year candy symbolizes long life or longevity.

I heard that kids get a special kind of candy during the Seven-Five-Three Festival. Does it mean something special? What does it taste like?
I heard that the bags containing thousand year candy have special pictures on them. What do they represent? What Chinese characters are written on the bags?
Is there a reason the candy is pink and white?
Do people make the candy themselves or do they usually buy it? Do you know what goes in the candy?

General Questions

Finally, don’t forget there are Daily News articles on children-related topics, which you can use as inspiration for more questions.

And here are some more general questions for non-Japanese students:

Are there any holidays in your country that celebrate children?
What traditional clothing does your country have? Do children wear them on any occasions?
Are there other holidays when children are given candy in your country?
What’s the most popular kind of candy in your country?
Is it common for children in your country to have photo-shoots done?

Happy tutoring!