Shichi-go-san — seven-five-three — is kept on or around 15 November, with girls celebrated at three and seven and boys at three and five. The ages come from an older reckoning: three was when children stopped having their heads shaved, five when boys first wore hakama, seven when girls first used a proper obi rather than a cord. Odd numbers are auspicious. Underneath the photographs is a demographic fact — child mortality was high enough that reaching these ages was worth marking formally, and there is an old phrase about children being in the hands of the gods until seven. The children are given chitose-ame, thousand-year candy: a long thin stick of red and white sugar in a paper bag printed with cranes, turtles, pine and bamboo, all longevity symbols, and the length of the candy is itself the wish. It is now heavily commercialised, with kimono rental and studio packages, which has if anything increased participation.