Kimono-Clad Pets Blessed at Japan Festival Lacking Enough Kids
Shrinking birthrates are driving more worshippers to bring pets for blessings and photos, with one shrine serving about 400 families each festival.
- At the Ichigaya Kamegaoka Hachimangu Shinto shrine, pet owners are participating in the traditional Shichi-Go-San festival by dressing their animals in colorful kimonos for purification rites.
- Shrine priest Kaji told AFP that the role of pets has shifted as Japan's 'family structure has changed,' with many people without children now welcoming animals as family members.
- Doctor Shoko Kodama spent two months hand-crafting a bespoke bright-red kimono for her five-year-old British shorthair called Amber, while Miyu Shiro said marking the event with her two Yorkshire terriers 'feels perfectly natural.'
- Since the early 2000s, the shrine has accepted around 400 families for each festival due to demand from pet owners, with animals now frequently featuring alongside human participants.
- Japan faces a demographic crisis with a median age of 49.9 years, the second-oldest population in the world according to the World Bank, as fertility rates fell to a record low last year.
10 Articles
10 Articles
Faced with the decline of the birth rate in Japan, more and more owners have their dogs and cats blessed at the traditional Shichi-Go-San Children's Festival A group of yorkshire terriers, a
Hindustan Times
coastaltvnews.comKimono-clad pets blessed at Japan festival lacking enough kids
Kimono-clad pets blessed at Japan festival lacking enough kids
The festival, known as "Shichi-Go-San", which means seven, five and three, is held every year as a rite of passage for children aged three, five and seven. But with the decline of the Japanese population, an increasing number of faithful bring their dogs and cats there. At Ichigaya Kamegaoka Hachimangu, the owners dressed their pets with traditional kimonos and had them pose for pictures, with the backdrop of the Shinto sanctuary, to mark this s…
Askanews
Tokyo, 31 Oct. (askanews) - A group of Yorkshire terriers, a Shiba and a cat, all wearing a kimono, receive a blessing in a shrine in Tokyo during a festivity traditionally dedicated to celebrating the growth of children. The anniversary, known as "Shichi-Go-San" - which means "seven," five and three" - is held every [...]
A few Yorkshire Terrieri, a Shiba and a cat, all wearing kimonos, received Saturday, in a temple in Tokyo, the blessing on the occasion of a festival traditionally dedicated to raising children, informs AFP.
A few Yorkshire Terrieri, a Shiba and a cat, all wearing kimonos, received Saturday, in a temple in Tokyo, the blessing on the occasion of a festival traditionally dedicated to raising children, informs AFP.
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