七五三

しちごさん

festival (shrine visit) by children aged 7, 5 and 3

五十三次

ごじゅうさんつぎ ごじゅうさんじ

the 53 Toukaidou stages

三皇五帝

さんこうごてい

Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (mythological rulers of ancient China)

三厭五葷

さんえんごくん

meat and the five pungent roots (avoided in Buddhist cuisine)

三公社五現業

さんこうしゃごげんぎょう

three public corporations (Japan National Railways, Japan Monopoly Corporation, and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) and five government enterprises (postal services, mintage, printing, management of state-owned forests/fields, and monopolization of alcohol)

五七五

ごしちご

five-seven-five syllable verse (haiku, senryu, etc.)

五

ウー ご いつ い

five

東海道五十三次

とうかいどうごじゅうさんつぎ とうかいどうごじゅうさんじ

fifty-three stages on the Tokaido (Edo-Kyoto highway in Edo-period Japan)

五分五分

ごぶごぶ

as likely as not, 50-50, even match, tie

五公五民

ごこうごみん

land-tax system during the Edo period under which the government took half of the year's crop and the farmers kept the other half

五男

ごなん いつお

fifth son

五日

いつか

the fifth day of the month

五つ

いつつ

five

五逆

five cardinal sins (killing one's father, killing one's mother, killing an arhat, shedding the blood of a Buddha, causing a schism within the sangha)

五山

ごさん ござん

five most important temples of a region

五本

ごほん

five (long cylindrical things)

五味

ごみ

five flavors (milk at various stages of making ghee: fresh milk, cream, curdled milk, butter, and ghee), the five periods of the Buddha's teachings

五障

five hindrances (that prevent a woman from becoming a Buddha, a Brahmā, a Shakra, a devil king, or a wheel-turning king); five obstructions to women's attainment

五菜

the five vegetables (garlic chive, Japanese leek, green onion, wasabi and mame)