Boys' Festival

``Boys' Festival'' is a day of celebration for boys.

Decorating carp streamers and May dolls is a wish that a newborn child will have happiness in life, that no disaster will befall them, and that they will grow up safely and live a strong and robust life. I give it to you with all my heart.

This idea became a festival culture that continues to this day.

What is the first seasonal festival?

The celebration of the first seasonal festival refers to the first seasonal festival that occurs once in a lifetime.
It is a traditional event/ceremony similar to ``Omiyamairi'' and ``Okitome.'' The family gathers around a celebratory meal and celebrates with gratitude for being born and hopes for healthy growth in the future.


Especially during the first year after your baby is born, you often feel the preciousness of life.
While feeling the weight of your baby, we hope that you and your family will protect your child and that he or she will grow up quickly, and express your gratitude for the birth of your baby. Let's have a meeting.

Boys born in March or April will be celebrating Boy's Festival soon after they are born. In such cases, celebrations are held one after the other, which can put a strain on the newborn baby and the mother. Unlike other celebratory events, there is no set date for celebrating the first annual festival. It is a good idea to think about when to celebrate your first annual festival based on whether you have already completed the first ritual of your life, the shrine visit.
If the first festival comes before the shrine visit, many children celebrate their first festival after they turn one year old.
Cultures and ways of celebrating differ depending on the region, such as celebrating according to the lunar calendar, so it is a good idea to discuss this with your family.


◆Boys and Festivals◆


``Boy's Festival'' is one of the five seasonal festivals. Festivals occur at the change of seasons, and when auspicious numbers coincide, it is said that bad days and evil spirits are likely to approach, and since ancient times there has been a custom of making offerings to the gods to pray for good health.

``Tango'' means ``Uma Day'' at the beginning of the month, but since ``Go'' and ``Five'' are pronounced the same, May 5th was the Tango Festival, and since the Nara period, May The 5th has been established as the Boy's Festival.
In the Edo period, the center of power shifted from aristocrats to samurai families, and since the sound of ``shobu'' is the same as ``shobu'', which values ​​martial arts, ``Tango no Sekku'' became known as ``Tango no Sekku''. It began to be actively celebrated among samurai families as a festival of ``Shobu.'' At the time, the Shogun family had a custom of celebrating the birth of a boy with horse seals and banners. This custom was inherited by samurai and common people, and changed to the custom of displaying carp streamers, May dolls, and helmets. It became an important event to pray for the successful growth of a boy born as the heir to the family and for the prosperity of the family, and has been passed down to the present day as a day to celebrate the birth and growth of a boy.

◆Boys' Festival and Children's Day◆

May 5th was established as Children's Day in 1948, and it became a national holiday to pray for the happiness of children, regardless of gender, and to express gratitude to their mothers. Although the terms ``Boy's Day'' and ``Children's Day'' are different, it is a day to celebrate while enjoying ancient wishes and traditions while wishing for future growth and happiness.

For Boys' Day celebrations, there are ``outer decorations'' such as carp streamers and flags, and ``inner decorations'' such as May dolls and helmet decorations, and each has a different meaning, so we will introduce them separately.

◆Decorate the May dolls◆
 1. Why do we display May dolls?
2. Scenery of the Tango season

◆Decorate carp streamers◆
3. Why do we decorate with carp streamers?
4. History and culture of carp streamers

Decorate the May doll (helmet, armor, interior decoration)

1. Why do we display May dolls?


It refers to May decorations such as helmet decorations, armor decorations, and warrior dolls (children's general decorations).

May decorations are displayed as talismans to protect children, with the hope that they will avoid disasters such as illness and accidents and grow strong.

Helmets, armor, bows, etc. are sometimes thought of as tools for battle, but for military commanders, helmets and armor are important equipment to protect themselves. The helmets and armor of the May dolls contain the wish that ``I hope they will protect my child.''
During seasonal festivals, it is easy to attract evil spirits (easily get sick), so it has been a custom since ancient times to make offerings to ward off evil spirits and pray for good health.

2. Scenery of the Tango season

The current month of May is a refreshing early summer, but May in the lunar calendar corresponds to the current month of June.

In other words, the rainy season starts from the middle of May on the lunar calendar. "Tango" means the first horse day of May in the lunar calendar. In the Kamakura period, it was customary for samurai families to take out their armor and helmets from storehouses and display them in their homes in order to ventilate their weapons, dry insects, and care for them just before the rainy season.


The scenery of the Tango season, along with carp streamers, is the origin of helmets and bows being displayed.

Decorate with carp streamers

◆3. Why do we decorate with carp streamers? ◆

In addition to carp streamers, flags have also been popular as decorations for Boy's Festival since ancient times.

Carp streamers contain the wish for ``healthy growth and success in life,'' which is to wish for children to grow up as energetically as carp streamers swimming leisurely in the sky.

◆4. History and culture of carp streamers◆


Originally, in Japan, when a son was born to a shogun, there was a custom to celebrate by setting up flags and flags with family crests. Eventually, it spread to samurai families, and flags were hoisted to mark the birth of a boy, and during the Boys' Festival it became customary to decorate armor and helmets with banners and also to dry insects.

Wealthy merchant houses in the Edo period began to decorate imitations of armor in imitation of samurai families, and when this spread among townspeople, they began to decorate their flags with the carp, which was a symbol of success in life*. The idea of ​​making a carp streamer was born.

(*What is “Tachishin Shusse”?
It originates from a legend that is famous as ``Toryumon'' in China and ``Carp Falls Nobori'' in Japan.
(In the upper reaches of the Yellow River in China, there is a series of waterfalls called Dragonmen, and it is said that any fish that climbs the waterfall will become imbued with spiritual power and turn into a dragon. It is a unique story that one day, a carp climbed up the dragon gate against the strong water of a waterfall, and the carp transformed into a dragon and ascended to the heavens.In China, the dragon is a symbol of the emperor. It is also very auspicious.)

Originally, carp are hardy fish that can survive in places other than clear streams, such as swamps and ponds. Due to the nature of carp,

[I want you to overcome obstacles like a carp in the flow of life. I want them to grow up to be strong people who can persevere even in adversity. ]


The wish was also included. (As they say, carp streamers actually swim more powerfully when there is a headwind, so in recent years they have often been used as a symbol of recovery.)

In recent years, as times have continued to change, the original meaning has become even stronger. Even in changing times, the thoughts of parents remain the same.