flying fish in the village
preparing and celebrating children's day!
in this week’s newsletter: helping tie koinobori for kodomo no hi, learning about well celebrated traditions, and joyful mornings with village elders
dear penpals -
a happy ゴールデンウィーク to you all the way from japan! ゴールデンウィーク, otherwise known as golden week, is a time when 4 national holidays are celebrated and/or observed from april 29th to early may to create a full week of holidays for adults and children! besides new year (in january) and お盆 [o·bo·n] (in august), golden week is one of the busiest holiday seasons within japan, and even we feel the shift of tourists coming to our little village. no one can escape the hustle and bustle of golden week!
a holiday celebrated during golden week on may 5th, 子供の日 [ko·do·mo no hi] (meaning: children’s day), is a day set aside to honour children, their happiness, personalities… in essence, celebrating them! for this holiday, people around the country hang 鯉のぼり [ko·i·no·bo·ri] (meaning: carp streamers) which are carp-shaped windsocks flown in the wind to celebrate children’s day, and yesterday i had the chance to meet with the elders in my village to hang the koinobori around the main campsite and area for everyone to enjoy!
this is a very mini (like mini-mini!) vlog capturing the joys of setting the village up to celebrate children’s day!
click on the image or the link to the video here!
history of the koinobori
before the shape of the koi took place, it was reported that samurai households would decorate their yards with flag shaped streamers that had the family crests to signify military status and the units they belonged to during the edo period (1603-1867). overtime these flags would merged with traditional 幟 (no·bo·ri) [meaning: thin banners] to create the first koinobori in the meiji era (1868-1912).
what was originally meant for samurai households, evolved and shifted to become a popular decorative item used by the rest of the population. historically, koinobori were flown only for japan’s ‘boy’s day’ where families would fly one carp for each son in the household, while the girls would have the 雛祭り [hi·na·ma·tsu·ri] (meaning: girls' day). however, over time, japan declared may 5th as ‘children’s day’ and recognized it as a national holiday to celebrate and hang koinobori in honour of all children, regardless of gender.
the koi, known for it’s ability to swim upstream, is used as a symbol to represent courage, determination, and resilience. and are used to pass along the parents’ hope that their children will grow up strong and healthy. it’s a wish parents (and non-parents!) have for the children in this world, but it’s also a nice reminder and wish for all adults as well. because, regardless of our age, we will always be a child to someone.
so flying a koinobori for you, dear penpals, as i hope and wish good health for you this year!
although originally made by hand-painting materials such as paper and cloth, over time konoboris are often made out of synthetic materials for the convenience of cost and quick production. but if you look at the vlog closely, you’ll notice that often to hang the koinoboris, you have to pull them through trees that will cut the material, degrade due to the natural elements, and in general produce a lot of waste.
so how does this little village honour tradition, while being mindful of not adding to the waste that these synthetic materials bring? they care for these koinoboris!
the first thing i’m learning about being mindful about waste is to take good care of the things we have. the care the village has to clean and store the koinoboris ensure that it can be used over and over again. and when it naturally rips or breaks, instead of throwing it out, they mend and fix the material to make it good as new! sure maybe some colour and patches are off, but if it still can fly, why does it need to be ‘perfect’?
but my favourite way they use the koinoboris, when it’s not able to be used for children’s day, is how incredibly talented seamstress in the village take the material and create clothes from it!
within the village there is a local upcycle store and workshop called ひだまり [hi·da·ma·ri] where local seamstress would take thrown out (but perfectly fine!) fabric to upcycle and create something new and sell it! and one of the coolest things they take are the broken koinoboris to create jackets, bags, and other really amazing and interesting things! it just goes to show that one material has the opportunity to have multiple lives and purposes, if only we’re willing to put in the time and effort to take care of it well!
so to all the koinoboris, both the ones flying high in the sky right now, and the ones that are being given second chances - thanks for being a part of not only a long standing tradition, but a source of beauty to look at and connect with community in joyful ways.
happy (early) children’s day to all the children in the world!
Very interesting Mina. Thank you for sharing this.