Japanese Culture & Traditions

Thank for your interest in Japanese Culture & Traditions. Have you visited my other pages, such as Introducing Mary Ohno, Kabuki Academy, and Japanese Language?

On this page, I would like to introduce you to timely Japanese culture and/or traditional events. Almost every month we Japanese have an event to celebrate and I'm positive that you want to know what it is all about. You can visit this page every month and find it out.

The topic of May 2007 is

"KODOMO NO HI"

or "Children's Day"
kids w/flag

Although it is called Children's Day on May 5th, it is actually celebrated as the Boys' Festival. (The Girls' Festival is March 3 which is called "Hinamatsuri" or the Dolls Festival. It is also a seasonal festival, called "Tango No Sekku" (Iris Festival), because May 5 marks the beginning of summer on the old lunar calendar.

Families with boys put up KOINOBORI, or carp streamers in their garden. The carp of the "koinobori" appear to be swimming vigorously against the current. Parents are wishing their boys to be a strong man and should face and overcome their difficulties with the same positive spirit.

While indoors, they display "Go-gatsu Ningyo"(samurai dolls and their armaments) on a stepped dais with three levels. Children take "shoobu-yu" (a bath with a bunch of floating iris leaves) and eat "kashiwa-mochi" (a rice cake wrapped in an oak leaf) and "chimaki" (a dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves).

Carp, samurai, irises, oak trees, and bamboos all symbolize the earnest wish that their children may grow up to be healthy and robust.

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