May 5th is Children's Day, one of the national holidays, in Japan. Japanese people celebrate well-beings of children by eating
kashiwa mochi and
chimaki (English: Japanese sweets), dispalying warrior dolls at home, and hoisting carp streamers in the air. As its holiday name suggests, May 5th is meant for all the children, but specifically for boys' well-beings (while girls have their festival called
Hinamatsuri on March 3rd). People hope that boys will grow strong like
samurai warriors, who can bravely fight in the battle. Boys are also wished to be like carp streamers, which swim in the air while defying strong winds (figuratively meaning difficulties in life). Even in the balcony of an apartment, we can find carp streamers swimming around Children' Day. This custom actually helps us pinpoint which household has a boy or boys.
We would like to share some pictures of carp streamers swimming in the air near Kiyosu Castle (located in the suburb of Nagoya), which features Nobunaga Oda's feudal period. Every year around Children's Day, we can see the carp streamers swimming over the nearby river. The picture of Kiyosu Castle is also shown.
The above two pictures show carp streamers swimming over the river with Kiyosu Castle at their back. You can see the fence of Shinkansen tracks (in gray) between the Caslte and the streamers.
This pictures shows Kiyosu Castle with the red bridge.
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