Hichigosan

With Tyler's birthday approaching in a few weeks, we dressed up in our suits and visited a local temple to celebrate his hichigosan, the first of three significant ages - 3, 5, and 7.

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Here we are all suited-up ready to brave the terrors of spending the day in formal dress with a nearly three year-old larikan.

Just before leaving Tyler treated us to a rare pose of total niceness in his cool little suit which Misaki's mother had hand-made for him.

(This is his default pose when caught in front of a camera - his impression of Calvin, from Calvin and Hobbes)

Upon arriving we discovered that the temple was absolutely beautiful. As per tradition, we first washed our hands with water supplied by several handy aquatic dragons.
Misaki and Tyler radiating cleanliness from behind the washing area.

It's happy water. Clean hands are good.

Of course, Tyler found it necessary to stick his arm into the sacred waters, suit and all, but shortly after a priest, resplendant in his ceremonial robes, emerged from the temple for the commencement of his holy lunch break.

We arranged ourselves in front of the temple's entrance for another group shot before heading inside for a little hichigosan ceremony.
It was consise, but impressive - the priest and his attendants were dressed in full traditional kimonos and there was serene music playing which seemed to eminate from the temple itself.

Tyler with his gift from the ceremony looking quite chuffed about it all. That's at least the 3rd occasion we caught him looking normal and nice.

The temple grounds had the ability to transport your imagination back to ancient Japan with it's beautiful gardens and ideal location on top of a hill. Outside the main temple were several smaller shrines like this one.

It was a really nice day. The atmosphere was peaceful and relaxing and the temple grounds could easily provide another day's worth of photo opportunities.