Flying Fish: Fun Stuff for Japanese Children’s Day

4 May 2007 Category: Arts & Crafts, Events & Exhibitions, Features, Japan

Flying Fish: Fun Stuff for Japanese Children’s Day

May 5th is a special day for children in Japan - they get lots of sweets, of course. But there is more: Koinobori are the colourful flying fishes that hang from balconies everywhere. PingMag tells you where on earth that came from.

As always, too soon our leisure time for this week is coming to an end - with tomorrow’s Children’s Day on May 5th in Japan. It is the last national holiday in the series of Bank Holidays generally known as the Golden Week. And though many of us are way too old to be counted as kids (at least in terms of age…), there is no reason why we shouldn’t celebrate Children’s Day, too. Following Girl’s Day in March, the event-loving PingMag team had a look at the festive atmo around in Tokyo. Read more about Children’s Day and some sweet gems we found in town…

Written by Ryoko & Chiemi
Translated by Natsumi

Koinobori: Flying Fish

Koinobori is indeed the typical symbol of the Japanese Children’s Day, and the sight of carp flags in the sky reminds us all of its approaching… By the way, Children’s Day is a day for respecting children’s personalities and wishing them to grow up healthily. But then again, what has Koinobori flying outside got to do with this traditional Japanese festivity?

A huge Koinobori family of 12 carps. Foreigners unfamiliar with this tradition must think: “What are these fishes doing here? They look like straight out of a washing machine…”

The answer: though this custom is considered to have originated in the Samurai households of the Edo period, it seems to have some Chinese influences. Chinese records mention that Many fishes attempted to swim up a waterfall in a rapid stream, but none of them managed to reach the top. However, the carp was the only one who could jump over the waterfall from the waters below. Just as the Japanese proverb of Koi no Takinobori, a carp’s waterfall climbing, means to succeed vigorously or do the social climbing, Koinobori was created from the natural hopes for children to grow up big and strong.

A common Koinobori has three types of fishes in a set, a black carp called “Magoi” that represents the father, a red carp called “Higoi” representing the mother, and other multi-coloured carps that stand for the children. From left to right: father, mother and children.

The black carp representing the father.

A bright colour for the mother carp.

Koinobori with sweets sold at the supermarket.

You also find Koinobori hanging from the balconies of apartment buildings.

A Koinobori decoration outside of the National Children’s Castle in Aoyama.

Getting the armour ready - for Children’s Day!

Besides the Koinobori, Samurai’s armours and helmets are also on display for Children’s Day. This might need a bit of explaining: having equal rights nowadays, this special day is to celebrate both boys and girls. However, traditionally it used to be a festival for the well-being and bravery of young boys - of course, as in so many patriarchal cultures. And bravery is of course associated with a Samurai. Therefore, the tradition of displaying suits of armour and helmets symbolising the Samurai is still present in Japanese households.

Now that is the interesting part: Japanese like to play around with words, and if you stir the word Busho, for Samurai, you get Shobu, for Japanese iris, in return. That is no coincidence, as in older times the Children’s Day used to be the day of the Shobu, the iris - a day to get rid of evil stuff, so people used to symbolically purify themselves with an iris bath.

A miniature suit of armour, helmet and weapons, standing as a symbol for protecting boys against accidents and disasters. By the way, it is not as expensive as you might think…

A dignified looking warrior doll - despite its child-like features.

I’m sure this will remind some of you of Leftfield’s second album…

Don’t forget the food!

Traditionally, foods such as Kashiwamochi rice cakes wrapped in Kashiwa, oak leaves, and Chimaki rice dumplings wrapped in leaves of reed and red kidney beans are served on the Children’s Day. That is because Kashiwa leaves are said to fall only after the tree has budded new leaves, which is a metaphor for parents do not die before children or more specifically, the family line does not fail. Also, the custom of eating Chimaki on this day originates from Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet in the kingdom of Chu: after Yuan lost a political battle, he drowned himself in the Miluo River on said May 5th. Since then, people used to throw rice dumplings into the river to comfort the poet’s spirit. Red kidney beans, or Kintoki beans in Japanese, were named after folk hero Sakata no Kintoki. More commonly he is known as Kintaro, as his face turned as red as the beans. That is why people started eating red kidney beans in hopes for their boys turning out as strong as Kintaro.

Chimaki & Kashiwamochi

Apparently there are quite many traditional foods for the Children’s Day, with each of them having its origin and meaning. However, in modern Japanese society people simply love the opportunity to party on events and festivities - so as a spin-off you can find all sorts of fancy seasonal sweets for Children’s Day as well. Here are some PingMag found all over town:

SWEETS!


It’s the third appearance of “Caramel Corn,” PingMag’s favourite. This time in the Children’s Day limited edition packaging. Cute!

”Koinobori Boro” is the Children’s Day version of the “Nishimura Eisei Boro”, as commonly seen in Kyoto. For those of you from Kansai who went down the memory lane with this, take a look at this one too.

The sweets sold at Shinjuku Nakamuraya came in a cute Koinobori drawstring pouch.

Koinobori sweets found at Izumiya in Toyoko Norengai, Shibuya. It contains 5 cookies.

The warrior doll from Shinjuku Nakamuraya was filled with cookies and candies.

At Ginza Suzuya, we found a Kintaro mug filled with Amanatto. Incidentally, the wrapping paper at this Ginza Suzuya is designed by Shiko Munakata, the internationally renowned Japanese woodblock printer.

One of the popular choices among children is this mini-Koinobori with motifs from “Yes! Pretty Cure 5, an animation produced by Toei Animation. If that got you curious: the anime is on air every Sunday morning - in Japan.

Another mini-Koinobori, this one goes with the Pokemon characters. You can get it for a mere 525 yen.

Mickey Mouse with a helmet! It is a limited edition only found in Japan.

I hope you enjoyed our little overview of the Japanese Children’s Day. If you happen to be out and about in Japan on May 5th, definitely check out all these colourful Koinobori on display - and have a bite of the seasonal limited edition sweets, too. Yummy!

81 Comments

  1. I recognize learning about Koinobor in an episode of Doraemon!

    Posted by: Ben on May 4th, 2007 at 7:14 pm

  2. Nice stuff.

    Posted by: Otaku on May 4th, 2007 at 7:43 pm

  3. [...] Japan Kid’s Day [...]

    Posted by: RDB5 Blog » Blog Archive » Flying Fish on May 4th, 2007 at 8:02 pm

  4. I love the carp kites! I remember celebrating another day with hanging ghosts (to keep rain away?) and chasing demons out of the building. I would love to see an article about that, too.

    Posted by: Emme on May 4th, 2007 at 8:13 pm

  5. Funny thing, I was just reading about these flags from this site. Great cultural traditions.

    Posted by: Ivis on May 4th, 2007 at 8:43 pm

  6. For some reason, every time I see them, I reminisce about the days I used to watch Doraemon on tv. They used to have those flying on a pole in the anime.

    Posted by: vaneea on May 4th, 2007 at 9:23 pm

  7. [...] There are some beautiful pictures and more explanation about Children’s Day in this Ping Magazine article. [...]

    Posted by: Learning resources for thinking kids and their parents. on May 5th, 2007 at 12:14 am

  8. Lovely!!
    cute et mignon!
    really, the colours are amazing.

    Posted by: Migue on May 5th, 2007 at 3:16 am

  9. [...] artical over a PingMag.com about Childrens Day check it [...]

    Posted by: Its Beyond Me » Koniobori… on May 5th, 2007 at 5:47 am

  10. I want to be a kid again:)

    Posted by: keanu on May 5th, 2007 at 10:11 am

  11. Nice writeup, that about covers Children’s Day. :)

    Posted by: HDR Photography on May 5th, 2007 at 12:25 pm

  12. Children’s Day rocks! Super article.

    Posted by: polarpenguin1 on May 5th, 2007 at 1:22 pm

  13. i fell off my bike

    Posted by: harry on May 5th, 2007 at 3:45 pm

  14. My next door neighbours two year old boy made the most amazing Koinobori… Now hanging out side on their balcony….. Enjoy!

    Posted by: SHANTELL MARTIN on May 5th, 2007 at 4:22 pm

  15. [...] Have no idea what was going on yesterday in Japan? PingMag has an excellent article about Children’s Day. [Link] [...]

    Posted by: Japan News for May 06, 2007 » Japan Probe on May 6th, 2007 at 8:16 am

  16. what an amazing festival for kids. I liked the concept of hanging fish.
    Very colorful!

    Posted by: Paavani on May 7th, 2007 at 2:19 pm

  17. [...] flown for sons, but please take that issue up with someone Japanese who will defend it. Super-cool Ping Mag has some great Koinobori pics and a lot of other interesting Japanese [...]

    Posted by: A Little Less Japanese Erotica, A Little More Fish « Creative Spark on May 9th, 2007 at 6:19 pm

  18. [...] Flying Fish: Fun Stuff for Japanese Children’s Day “However, in modern Japanese society people simply love the opportunity to party on events and festivities - so as a spin-off you can find all sorts of fancy seasonal sweets for Children’s Day as well. Here are some PingMag found all over town” [...]

    Posted by: Photophores: May 9, 2007 « Kinetic Loop on May 9th, 2007 at 10:01 pm

  19. The hanging fish were very beautiful!

    Posted by: Elin, Sägen Butik on May 10th, 2007 at 12:25 am

  20. How do you order the Koinobori sweets?
    All the websites are in Japanese and I would like to order a lot for a Children’s Festival I am going to have next year.
    Thank you,
    Michelle

    Posted by: Michelle Bussey on July 25th, 2007 at 6:02 am

  21. Im american hahaha

    Posted by: jake on November 3rd, 2007 at 12:11 am

  22. Im american ha

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  23. Im an english high school art teacher and I have been given the task to come up with a scheme of work entitled “Fish and Sea Creatures” I wanted to have something of value, mixing the title with a cultural aspect. Well may I say that your koinobori fish sculptures have been an absoloute inspiration. Now I can do the fun bit and make some test pieces!!

    Posted by: Kim on January 23rd, 2008 at 8:22 am

  24. I think many people have mistaken shobu for Japanese iris (hana shobu). Many English sources mention iris but the kanji for shobu is sweet calamus. I think this is a more reliable source. http://www.kyoto-shimazu.com/en/HistoryofYusokuGogatsuNingyo_Dolls.html

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  31. [...] flown for sons, but please take that issue up with someone Japanese who will defend it. Super-cool Ping Mag has some great Koinobori pics and a lot of other interesting Japanese [...]

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