Seijinshiki – Coming of Age Ceremony
This year the Seijin no hi, the coming of age day took place on Monday the 13th. That Monday is always a public holiday dedicated to celebrating the young people turning 20 and thus “coming of age”. In the old days this ceremony was reserved to highest nobility, but gradually it filtered down through the social classes and for the last 40-50 years it has been more common than not to celebrate it even among ordinary people. Even then it is easy to see how much the economic situation has changed as you look at photos of the parents of the people coming of age this year. The dressing, accessories and hairstyles has really evolved even since the beginning of this century.
I took these photos at Tokyo’s largest shrine, the Meiji Jingu in Shibya Ward. It was a relatively warm sunny winter day, completely different from last year’s coming of age day, when an unexpected snow storm put a halt to most festivities in the city. The young women (and some men) that I saw at the shrine were all in high spirits and looked fantastic. It feels slightly unreal to be surrounded by dozens of these beauties!
Lovely smiling ladies !
Gorgeous kimonos
And a wonderful sunny day … A perfect day 😀
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A perfect day to enter the adult world! (^-^)
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I have missed your shots of beautifies! Great job!!
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Thank you Dina! I have more to come, just too hard to pick which ones to blog! (^-^)
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Ah, the future Looks bright for them, as bright as their smiLes you captured in the pictures.
Great job as aLways, Tokyobling-san! 🙂
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I hope it is! (^-^) Thank you for the kind comment Amadl!
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All these girls look stunning ^^ I remember seeing a picture from last years snow storm, it was one girl dressed in a gorgeous kimono with snow all around her. I’m glad this year we can see more lovely young girls dressed in beautiful furisode ^^ I’m going to definitely have to go to Japan during this time as well as shigyoshiki, which happens just about a week or so before ^^
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Thank you for the kind comment and for remembering something I posted over a year ago! (^-^)
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Aaah! It was you who posted that wonderful picture! ^^ I’m so glad for their sakes it was a bit warmer ^^ Though I know Kimono can be quite toasty depending on what they’re made of, but even then, that coming of age day looked super cold! ^^
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So happy + bright! I wonder when + how the trend of the fur stole came about???
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I think it is very recent. Since they are all fake fur it must have been sometime after the introduction of cheap imitation fur. Kimono can get very cold around the neck area so I am sure the young women want something to keep them warm…!
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