so, this is a holiday usually celebrated in november, but like many things, it seems to be heading towards more commercialization.  seriously, there's the regular 7-5-3, 7 year old girls now have the option of hakama (usually worn by boys and men, and 20 year old women, if they so choose, at their coming of age ceremony...anyway) and i also found some 7-5-3 wear for the new year!  i'm sure if i looked right now i'd find 7-5-3 for spring.  ah well....

when hiro was five, we bought a hakama set, with the intention of using it for tommy.  which we did.  i couldn't find any of the dvds of instructions on how to put on the hakama and kimono, but luckily i found some videos on youtube!  i did a practice run a couple of weeks before we visited the shrine.  i also shleped that thing across the ocean to have some professional pictures taken when we were in the US.  today's photos are from our visit in november.