Children's Day

Children’s day was a while ago and I didn’t get a chance to write about it but better late than never right?

May 5 is one of the "seasonal divisions" that is celebrated during the year in Japan. Its called Kodomo-no-Hi  or Children's Day.

 It’s a day to express hope that children will grow up physically strong and courageous against adversity. One of the customs is to hang huge carp-shaped windsocks called koi-nobori up a flagpole. Sometimes villages will stretch a rope across a stream or between two buildings and hang enough koi-nobori to represent the whole community. 

They are incredible to see. We didn’t get a chance this year to make a trek to see them while they were above the river but we did visit a shop where they sell the streamers and we were amazed at their size and the assortment of colors. 

The idea of honoring children and hoping for their well-being is nice and I like that the decorations are representative of that. And of course they are gorgeous.

The kids at school all made some kind of craft for the holiday. The 2 year olds painted paper banners. agian these are not my kids but they looked remarkable similar.