Does a few weeks Miki Toguchi, a 51-year-old Japanese woman, went to a temple in Tokyo so that little Kotora could participate in the Shichi-Go-Sanan ancient Shinto ritual during which we thank children for their birthdays and pray for their protection. The ceremony is usually performed by young people aged seven, five and three, which is why it is often called that: ‘7-5-3’. Kotora is now five years old, hence Toguchi’s determination to have him blessed.
The funny thing is that Kotora is not a child. Not a girl.
It’s a schanuzer miniature that upon arriving at the Tokyo sanctuary for the ‘7-5-3’ ritual, he met other poodles, pomeranians, chihuahuas, bichons… Together represent better than any statistics demographic drift from Japan.
A different ‘7-5-3’ ritual. The story of Kotora (and others like it) has just been told The New York Times in an article in which he reveals how in the sanctuary Ichigaya Kamegaoka (Tokyo) dogs are slowly replacing humans in the Shichi-Go-Sana ceremony designed for children.
The origins of the ritual date back to Heian period (794-1185 AD), a period with a high infant mortality rate, which explains why the country’s aristocrats celebrated when their children reached three, five and seven years of age. Parents came to the shrines with their little ones, showed gratitude and prayed that their offspring would enjoy long, prosperous and healthy lives.
From children to dogs. The ‘7-5-3’ has maintained its spirit for generations, but as Japan ran out of babies Shrines like Ichigaya Kamegaok have had to make a living. The country may have fewer and fewer children, but their homes they have been filling of dogs and cats, so dozens of temples throughout Japan have chosen to adapt the ritual to animals.
The idea is the same: the little ones are blessed, thanks are given for their lives and protection is prayed for… although in this case the little ones are not children, but poodles, Pomeranians, Chihuahuas, bichons or Akitas (among many other species), dogs that often appear before the priests with kimonos and amulets. For reference, TNYT remember that the Tokyo temple receives seven times more pets than infants every fall: about 50 children compared to 350 animals.
“Obsolete shrines”. Kenji Kaji is a priest at Ichigaya Kamegaoka Temple and explains that he has had to tweak some sentences to fit the pets. It may not be an orthodox practice, but he himself acknowledges that there is a less attractive scenario: “The worst thing would be if both Shintoism and the shrines became obsolete.” So pray that families and their furry friends enjoy “happy” lives. For the ceremony they ask 5,000 yen ($32).
In cases like Kotora, the temples have found two things: a new source of income and a way for young people to get closer to tradition. “People have gone from having children to having pets,” Toguchi confesses.. She doesn’t have children, but she wants her pet to participate in ‘7-5-3’. It is not an isolated case.
Looking back. In 2023 Reuters spoke already from an ancient temple located 35 km from Tokyo, the Zama sanctuary, which had a special prayer area designed for pets and their families to participate in the Shichi-Go-San. At the time, Natsumi Aoki, a 33-year-old woman who had blessed her Pomeranians, lamented that there were not enough pet-friendly sanctuaries in Japan. Today The New York Times assures that in the country there are already “dozens” of sanctuaries willing to say prayers for dogs.
Much more than a ceremony. That the ‘7-5-3’ is opening up to pets and there are temples in which more rituals are already celebrated for more dogs than children is more than a simple anecdote. It is a symptom of the social changes that Japan is facing, mired in a deep population crisis from which it cannot escape.
In 2024 the country registered 686,061 birthsa disastrous fact for two big reasons. The first is that it marks a new historical low. Never since records began in 1899 has Japan received fewer babies. The second is that this rate of births was far below the rate of deaths.
Last year they died in Japan about 1.6 million peopleso for every baby born, two deaths were recorded. The result is a vegetative balance in the red that cost the country the greatest population loss since at least the late 1960s, which is when records began.
Fewer babies, but no pets. During the pandemic the country saw how they increased cats and dogs in homes, although at the beginning of 2024 the Japan Pet Food Association detected that this increase was slowing down. That does not mean that pets have become a business of millionaire with growth forecast.
Images | Rosewoman (Flickr), Japanexperterna (Flickr), Radim Jaksik (Unsplash)
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