We’re just about finished with Golden Week over here: Saturday was Constitution Memorial Day, Sunday was Green Day and Monday waclass=”alignnone size-medium wp-image-43″s Children’s Day. Because Green Day fell on a Sunday this year (which every already has off), Tuesday is a Substitute Holiday. Children’s Day used to be called Boy’s Festival and is often still referred to this way as a counterpart to Hina Matsuri (which isn’t a national holiday, btw), often called “Girls’ Festival” even though this isn’t the correct translation. These two holidays (along with Tanabata in July) are very old and traditional and always fall on the same dates 3/3, 5/5 and 7/7. This day is supposed to celebrate children’s happiness.

Rather than the Hina dolls being displayed, families with boys may set out a doll depicting Kintaro, a young samuri hero, or sometimes just his head, his kabuto (helmut) or other armor. I saw one of these at each of the nursery schools I visited these past two weeks, but I don’t get the sense that this is as pervasive as the Hina dolls are. Like the Hina dolls they are also very expensive. What is much more popular are koinobori, or carp-shaped windsocks. Families with boys will erect a huge flag pole often adorned with gold spinning whirligig type decoration.
The top banner is called the fukinagashi symbolizing the whip samurai used to carry into battle, followed by the biggest carp (the dad) that is usually black, then the next biggest that is red (for the mom), and then smaller blue or green ones for each of the boys of the family. They are usually really big flags and nicer ones have gold paint or something on them so that when they blow in the wind (and it is really windy here) they wave around and shimmer in the sunlight and really look like fish, covered in shiny scales, swimming in the breeze.

People who live in apartment buildings can buy smaller ones to hang from their balconies. Traditionally a boy’s maternal grandmother would gift the kite (often handmade) to the parents on the occasion of his birth but, now, often parents will just buy one. The carp signify strength and perseverance since they are one of the fish that swim upstream. Families will usually fly the flags every year after the first boy is born until the youngest is 10 or 11 or so.

As for Children’s Day food, red rice and (sweetened) beans is often served as it is for any sort of celebration. The typical sweet of Children’s Day is kashiwamochi- mochi (rice dough) filled with sweet bean paste and then wrapped in an inedible oak leaf (I think this is partly for looks and partly to avoid having to touch the mochi which can be quite sticky. Traditionally boys would eat this treat while wearing paper kabutos– there was a strong relationship between this holiday and military things to encourage the boys to become soldiers but this has lessened. There is still the idea of celebrating and encouraging strength, good health, courage and perseverance. I also read in a few places that there is also an element of the boys thanking the mothers for everything they have done for them but I don’t know anything else about this (and Mother’s Day is also celebrated here, to some extent, on the same day we do).