{"id":11435,"date":"2016-05-05T11:49:17","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T02:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/?p=11435"},"modified":"2020-08-07T23:49:46","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T14:49:46","slug":"carps-beewort-samurai-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/carps-beewort-samurai-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Kodomo no Hi: Carps, Beewort and Samurai Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kodomo no Hi<\/strong> (\u3053\u3069\u3082\u306e\u65e5), or Children\u2019s Day<\/strong> officially, is celebrated annually on May 5 in Japan<\/strong>. Kodomo no Hi is also known as Tango no Sekku<\/strong><\/a> (\u7aef\u5348\u306e\u7bc0\u53e5) \u2013 and as some of you might recall, there are five Sekku in Japan: \u4eba\u65e5 (Jinjitsu, Jan 7), \u4e0a\u5df3 (Joushi, March 3), \u7aef\u5348 (Tango, May 5), \u4e03\u5915 (Shichiseki, July 7) and\u91cd\u967d (Chouyou, September 9). While we have already looked into Joushi as known as Hinamatsuri<\/strong><\/a> (\u201cDoll\u2019s Day\u201d) for girls, it\u2019s time to look at its supposed counterpart \u2013 the so-called Boy\u2019s Day<\/strong>, or \u201cKodomo no Hi\u201d as it is called in modern days.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The origin of Kodomo no Hi<\/strong> comes from Tango no Sekku mentioned above. The words \u201ctan\u201d (\u7aef) means \u201cbeginning\u201d and \u201cgo\u201d (\u5348; uma) \u201cthe seventh day.\u201d So together it means the first seventh day of the month, which didn\u2019t necessary point to May alone \u2013 In Japanese, however, \u201cgo\u201d is also the pronunciation of five, therefore the fifth month.<\/p>\n The origin of Tango, yet, comes from the Chinese lunar calendar<\/strong> and historical folklores: Tango, as it is an official holiday observed in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other Chinese communities under names such as \u201cDragon Boat Festival\u201d, refers to May 5 on the lunar calendar, which is around summer solstice around June 21. As with historical folklores, the most popular one concerns a Chinese poet named Qu Yuan (ca. 340 BC) who threw himself into the river in protest against the corrupt government at the time. People who knew of his suicide, as the legend goes, rushed out in boats in search of his body (i.e. dragon boat race) and threw dumplings into the river rice so fish would stay away from eating his body (i.e. tradition of eating dumplings, or zongzi in Chinese<\/strong>).<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Coming back to Japan, the day of Tango is commonly symbolized by carp<\/strong> (\u9bc9; koi), body armor<\/strong> (\u93a7; yoroi) and beewort<\/strong> (\u83d6\u84b2; shoubu). Of course there is also the Chinese influence of eating sweet dumplings and in some parts of Japan or the dragon boat race. But how did the most representative of all, koinobori<\/strong> (\u9bc9\u5e5f; carp streamer) come to represent May 5 in Japan?<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The fish of koi, or carp in English, symbolizes courage and determination in Chinese as well as Japanese cultures<\/strong>, for their strong drive to swim upstream<\/strong>, or analogically overcoming obstacles<\/strong> in order to reach their goals. Most believe that the Japanese came to celebrate Tango no Sekku with putting up koinobori around the Edo<\/strong> period, by those who wanted to remonstrate against the samurai<\/strong> (\u4f8d) families who would put up flags for the day.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Up until then, Tango no Sekku had been known as \u201cShoubu no Sekku\u201d (\u5c1a\u6b66\u306e\u7bc0\u53e5), in which \u201cshou\u201d (\u5c1a) meaning prioritized or prime, and \u201cbu\u201d (\u6b66) the warrior thinking (as in \u201cBushido<\/strong>\u201d). Families of warrior descents would traditionally put up body armors in the house to celebrate boys of the household, not dissimilar to the placement of dolls on Doll\u2019s Day for girls on March 3.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n On another note, \u201cshoubu\u201d bears the same pronunciation as the plant \u83d6\u84b2 (beewort) \u2013 that is why you will also see May 5 celebrated as \u201c\u83d6\u84b2\u306e\u7bc0\u53e5\u201d (Shoubu no Sekku<\/strong>), and beewort leaves to be used for decorations and celebratory sweets.<\/p>\n <\/a> While koinobori and body armors as decorations are still commonplace, their scales \u2013 in terms of size and elaborateness \u2013 have been played down, like numerous other customs, due to economic and physical factors. Whichever decoration<\/strong> the family has followed to use, the bill (which can be unbelievably high!) is nowadays shared between grandparents of both mother and father\u2019s sides, instead of the mother\u2019s side alone before.<\/p>\nThe Origin of Kodomo no Hi<\/h2>\n
The Carps, the Meanings<\/h2>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\nKodomo no Hi, How Can We Celebrate?<\/h2>\n