Kodomo no hi

Kodomo No Hi

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Kodomo no hi

is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
ese national holiday

Holiday

The words holiday or vacation have related meanings in different English language countries and continents, but will usually refer to one of the following activities or events:...
which takes place annually on May 5, the fifth day of the fifth month, and is part of the Golden Week

Golden Week (Japan)

, also known as or, is a Japan term applied to the period containing the following public holidays:* April 29**, until 1988**, from 1989 until 2006...
. It is a day set aside to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness. It was designated a National holiday by the Japanese government in 1948.

day was originally called , and was celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th moon in the lunar calendar

Lunar calendar

A lunar calendar is a calendar that is based on cycles of the moon phase. The only widely used purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar or Hijri calendar, whose year always consists of 12 lunar months....
or Chinese calendar

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar calendar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. This measure of time was first introduced by the Babylonians ....
.

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Encyclopedia

is a Japan

Japan

Holiday

Golden Week (Japan)

Tango no Sekku

The day was originally called , and was celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th moon in the lunar calendar

Lunar calendar

Chinese calendar

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas....
, the date was moved to May 5th on the Gregorian calendar. The festival is still celebrated in China

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
, Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
and Macau

Macau

The Macau Special Administrative Region, , commonly known as Macau or Macao , is one of the two special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong....
as the Duanwu Festival or Duen Ng Festival (Cantonese), in Korea as the Dano Festival, and Vietnam as the T?t Ðoan Ng?

T?t Ðoan Ng?

- T?t ?oan Ng? - Compare to Cantonese Chinese term "dyun eng" ngo/eng/wu all refer to the ancient Chinese calendar term: the seventh of the twelve 'earthly branches', which was a component for determining time based on a series of 60 years .) Ngo/eng/wu refers to the sun at noon....
on the traditional lunar calendar date.

Sekku means a season's festival (there are five sekku per year). Tango no Sekku marks the beginning of summer

Summer

Summer generally refers to the warmest and most humid season between spring and autumn, from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox. In the Northern Hemisphere, this falls from the June solstice to the September equinox, while in the Southern Hemisphere it falls from the December solstice to the March equinox....
or the rainy season. Tan means "edge" or "first" and go means "noon." In Chinese culture, the fifth month of the Chinese calendar

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar calendar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. This measure of time was first introduced by the Babylonians ....
was said to be a month for purification, and many rites that were said to drive away evil spirits were performed.

Although it is not known precisely when this day started to be celebrated, it was probably during the reign of the Empress Suiko

Empress Suiko

=GenealogyBefore her ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, her personal name was Mikekashiya-hime-no-mikoto., also called Toyomike Kashikiya hime no Mikoto....
(593–628 A.D.). In Japan

Japan

Nara period

The of the history of Japan covers the years from AD 710 to 794. Empress Gemmei established the capital of Heijo-kyo . Except for 5 years , when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capital of Japanese civilization until Emperor Kammu established a new capital, Nagaoka-kyo, in 784 before moving to Heian-kyo , or Kyoto, a decade lat...
.

Until recently, Tango no Sekku was known as Boys' Day (also known as Feast of Banners) while Girls' Day (Hinamatsuri
Hinamatsuri

The Japanese , or Girls' Day, is held on March 3, the third day of the third month. Platforms with a red hi-mosen are used to display a set of representing the Emperor of Japan, Japanese empresses, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period....
) was celebrated on March 3. In 1948, the government decreed this day to be a national holiday to celebrate the happiness of all children and to express gratitude toward mothers. It was renamed Kodomo no Hi. There is some concern that, despite its renaming, it is still Boys' Day and it is inappropriate that Boys' Day is a national holiday, while Girls' Day is not.

Before this day, families raise the carp

Carp

Carp is a common name for various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish originally from Eurasia and southeast Asia....
-shaped koinobori
Koinobori

, meaning "carp banner" in Japanese, are carp-shaped wind socks traditionally flown in Japan to celebrate Kodomo no hi. These wind socks are made by drawing carp patterns on paper, cloth or other nonwoven fabric....
flags (carp because of the Chinese legend that a carp that swims upstream becomes a dragon, and the way the flags blow in the wind looks like they are swimming), one for each boy (or child), display a Kintaro
Kintaro

is a folk hero from Japanese folklore. A child of superhuman strength, he was raised by a Yama-uba on Mount Ashigara. He became friendly with the animals of the mountain, and later, after catching the terror of the region around Mount Ooe, Shutendouji, he became a loyal follower of Minamoto no Yorimitsu under the new name ....
doll usually riding on a large carp, and the traditional Japanese military helmet, kabuto
Kabuto

Kabuto is a helmet used with traditional Japanese armour as worn by samurai. It features a strong bowl, the "hachi", which protects the crown of the head, a suspended series of articulated plates to protect the neck, and often a crest of the clan ....
. Kintaro and the kabuto are symbols of a strong and healthy boy.

is the childhood name of Sakata no Kintoki who was a hero in the Heian period

Heian period

The is the last division of classical History of Japan, running from 794 to 1185. It is the period in Japanese history when Confucianism and other Chinese culture were at their height....
, a subordinate samurai of Minamoto no Raikou, having been famous for his strength when he was a child. It is said that Kintaro rode a bear

Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives....
, instead of a horse

Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
, and played with animals in the mountains when he was a young boy.

Mochi
Mochi

Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki....
rice cakes wrapped in kashiwa (oak

Oak

The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus , which are listed in the List of Quercus species, and some related genera, notably Lithocarpus....
) leaves — kashiwa-mochi (just like regular mochi, but is also filled with red beans jam) and chimaki (a kind of "sweet rice paste," wrapped in an iris or bamboo leaf) — are traditionally served on this day.

Song

????? ????? ????? ????

Hashira no kizu wa ototoshi no gogatsu itsuka no Sei-Kurabe

????? ???? ?????? ????

Chimaki tabe-tabe nii-san ga hakatte kureta sei no take

???????? ???? ?????? ????

Kinou kurabe-rya nan no koto, yatto haori no himo no take

The scratch on the pillar was marked the 5th of May in the year before last for comparison of height

Eating and eating chimaki

Chimaki

are Japanese versions of Chinese Zongzi, a glutinous rice cake wrapped in a bamboo leaf. They are eaten especially on the Kodomo no hi Festival on 5 May....
, my elder brother measured the length of my height

Comparing yesterday, however, the difference was barely a length of cord of my haori short coat

Kodomo no hi

Tango no Sekku

Song

See also

External links