Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Colorful Koi

Cinco de Mayo 88

For the past week or two the Koi have been erected throughout Japan in anticipation of Children's Day on May 5th. The koi are erected by families with sons as the koi represent strength and endurance.

richard5203

Just upstream from us the town of Sakurae strings 2 lines of koi across the river at the site of the years most important matsuri, the Suijin Matsuri, which is held on May 5th.

A walk to Kojindani 5128

Most koi though can be found in small groups flying from poles outside peoples houses.

kamate4988

To underscore that it's really Boy's Day, not Children's Day, some people put up banners with the koi,or sometimes instead of the koi. The banners display famous warriors and warlords. This one has Ieyasu, Hideyoshi, and Nobunaga, among others.

2 comments:

  1. Almost forgot about Children's Day, it's so close!

    Beautiful pictures, the second one seems as if it were taken on a studio! Very nice =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. So colorful. It just reminds me of Hawaii's golden anniversary celebration this year.

    ReplyDelete