Children's Day (Boy's Day) in Japan

Tue 19th May 2009

 4

 by 

 Chris Gaunt

 in Life In Japan

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I took these photos back in May. They are for Children's Day (こどもの日) which is celebrated annually on May 5. It's a day to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness. Before the festival families display these carp banners (鯉幟) outside their homes, but there are also big displays such as shown here.

I also saw a giant one, much bigger than a person, but didn't have my camera with me at the time!

It was originally named Boy's Day, but people felt it was inappropriate because it was a national holiday when Girl's Day is not. So it was renamed to Children's Day.

Very colorful and it was a windy day too so they were flying about.

When displayed outside a home the top carp represents the father, the second carp represents the mother and all other carp after that represent the children. I'm not sure if the color has meaning too, does anyone know?

Jamaipanese said on Sat 2009/05/23 03:53 JST:

great pictures, love the colours