Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 1
·
May 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
68
platforms to introduce the public into the material culture of modernity (Jones 2010:97).
Generally speaking, the child and childrearing began to grow in importance for the
marketplace and the celebration of Shichigosan is viewed as an important milestone within
this development.
During the interwar period the word ‘fashion’ (
ry
ū
k
ō
) started to appear with more
frequency in articles reporting on trends in the Shichigosan dress style. Shichigosan dress in
this period meant principally the Japanese kimono, although, the impact of Western culture
on Japanese clothing habits grew in this time. It was in the interwar years that the notion of
preparing for
the celebration of Shichigosan first emerged. While earlier articles commenting
on the celebration appeared mostly on the day following the 15
th
of November, now
advertisements and articles targeting Shichigosan observers started to be published much
earlier, days or even weeks prior to the official date. Today, the preparative phase, during
which the family members plan all that is needed for the celebration, is emphasized both by
actor-observers and the commercial sector. A thorough and timely preparation, from
collecting information to purchasing the desired services and goods, is thought to be decisive
for the successful outcome of the ritual event.
The emergence of commercial photography in the 1930s is another major factor.
Advertisements of photo studios targeting families planning the Shichigosan ritual began to
appear in newspapers as early as 1937. The most innovative photo studios started to offer
bundled Shichigosan services, which included photography shoots combined with beauty
salon and dress assistance, establishing a pattern that would later spread throughout the
country. The popularization of these services was interrupted by the war, but afterwards in
the 1960s and 1970s, photographs and services provided by professional studios became an
integral part of the celebration.
The proliferation of services for Shichigosan
The diffusion of the urban pattern of Shichigosan throughout the country in the postwar
decades was fueled by rapid urbanization as well as standardization of a lifestyle divided
between the urban and rural areas in Japan. The processes of social transformation, initiated
in the prewar period and interrupted by the Second World War, soon restarted after the end of
the war. The standards of living raised steadily and urban lifestyles spread quickly throughout
the country. The dissemination of this particular lifestyle was amplified by the development
of mass media, which was a prevalently urban-dominated media (Clammer 1997). The 1960s
