Tango no sekku

{{nihongo||端|Tan}} means {{gloss|beginning}} and {{nihongo||午|go}} is a simplified form of {{Nihongo3|'horse'|⾺}}, referring to the Chinese zodiac name for the fifth lunar month. Days of the week also have zodiac animals. Thus, {{transliteration|ja|tango}} originally meant 'the first horse day of the fifth month'. However, {{transliteration|ja|go}} is a homonym for {{nihongo3|five|五}} in Japanese, so during the Nara period the meaning shifted to become the fifth day of the fifth month.{{cite web|title=端午の節句と5月人形|trans-title=Tango no sekku and May dolls|language=ja|url=http://www.ningyo-kyokai.or.jp/sekku/tango.html|publisher=Japanese Doll Association|access-date=7 May 2014}} {{transliteration|ja|Sekku}} means a seasonal festival. There are five {{transliteration|ja|sekku}}, including Jinjitsu (January 7), Jōshi ({{transliteration|ja|Hinamatsuri}}, March 3), Shichiseki ({{transliteration|ja|Tanabata}}, July 7) and Chōyō ({{transliteration|ja|Kiku Matsuri}}, September 9), along with {{transliteration|ja|Tango no Sekku}}.{{cite web|title=五節句|trans-title=The Five Seasonal Festivals|language=ja|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%BA%94%E7%AF%80%E5%8F%A5-501876 }} In Kotobank online dictionary. Retrieved 5 May 2025. {{transliteration|ja|Tango no Sekku}} marks the beginning of summer or the rainy season.

Image:Japanese Festival in Honor of the Birth of Children.jpg}}, {{transliteration|ja|nobori}} and {{nihongo||吹貫|fukinuke}}. "Japanese Festival in Honor of the Birth of Children" from Sketches of Japanese Manners and Customs, by J.M.W. Silver, illustrated by native drawings, published in London in 1867]]

Although it is not known precisely when {{transliteration|ja|Tango no Sekku}} began to be celebrated, it was probably during the reign of the Empress Suiko (593{{ndash}}628 AD). In Japan, {{transliteration|ja|Tango no Sekku}} was assigned to the fifth day of the fifth month after the Nara period.

{{transliteration|ja|Tango no Sekku}} was originally a day for women to purify the house by thatching the roof with irises, which were believed to be effective in repelling evil spirits, and for women to rest their bodies, but it was changed to a day for boys in the Kamakura period (1185–1333) when the samurai class took control of the government. The reason for this was that the iris was a plant that represented the samurai because its leaves were shaped like the blade of a Japanese sword, and the word {{nihongo||尚武|shōbu}}, which means {{gloss|to value military affairs}}, had the same pronunciation as {{nihongo|iris|菖蒲}} and was therefore considered an auspicious plant for the samurai. Since this period, {{transliteration|ja|yabusame}} (Japanese horseback archery) was held on May 5 as a way to ward off evil spirits.{{cite web|url=https://www.touken-world.jp/tips/75943/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204195601/https://www.touken-world.jp/tips/75943/|script-title=ja:五月人形と鯉のぼりの由来|language=ja|publisher=Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum Nagoya Touken World|archive-date=4 February 2023|access-date=4 February 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.touken-world.jp/gogatsu-dolls/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204203827/https://www.touken-world.jp/gogatsu-dolls/|script-title=ja:五月人形の基礎知識|language=ja|publisher=Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum Nagoya Touken World|date=|archive-date=4 February 2023|access-date=4 February 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.dwc.doshisha.ac.jp/research/faculty_column/2018-04-18-12-32|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508143847/https://www.dwc.doshisha.ac.jp/research/faculty_column/2018-04-18-12-32|script-title=ja:「端午の節句」について|language=ja|author=Naoto Yoshikai|publisher=Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts|date=18 April 2018|archive-date=8 May 2021|access-date=5 February 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.townnews.co.jp/0602/2020/02/14/518023.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027193700/https://www.townnews.co.jp/0602/2020/02/14/518023.html|script-title=ja:鎌倉春ごよみ|language=ja|author=Horoyuki Ishizuka|publisher=Town news-Sha Co., LTD.|date=14 February 2020|archive-date=27 October 2021|access-date=5 February 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.gekkeikan.co.jp/enjoy/culture/season/season05.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106081130/https://www.gekkeikan.co.jp/enjoy/culture/season/season05.html|script-title=ja:菖蒲酒（しょうぶさけ）邪気を払い延命を記念する、端午の節句のしきたり|language=ja|publisher=Gekkeikan|archive-date=6 November 2021|access-date=6 February 2023}}

The custom of displaying miniature Japanese armor and {{transliteration|ja|kabuto}} (helmets) on Children's Day, called {{nihongo3|May doll||Gogatsu Ningyo}}, has its origins in the Kamakura to Muromachi periods (1333–1573). Samurai used to take their armor, {{transliteration|ja|kabuto}}, and Japanese swords out of their storage boxes in May before the rainy season to take care of them. Since this was the time of the {{transliteration|ja|Tango no Sekku}}, they began to display armor, {{transliteration|ja|kabuto}}, and Japanese swords in the hope of protecting their children.

File:Two samurai dolls (28146117425).jpg

During the Edo period (1603–1867), {{transliteration|ja|Tango no Sekku}} celebrations became extravagant, and samurai households began to display {{nihongo|samurai dolls|武者人形|musha ningyo}} in addition to real armor, {{transliteration|ja|kabuto}}, and Japanese swords. Ordinary households began to display paper {{transliteration|ja|kabuto}}. The custom of bathing in the bathtub with irises on May 5 began in this period.

File:Utagawa Hiroshige - Suido Bridge and Surugadai, from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Edo Meisho Hyakkei) - Google Art Project.jpg by Utagawa Hiroshige depicting {{transliteration|ja|koinobori}}. Edo period]]

The custom of decorating {{transliteration|ja|koinobori}} (carp streamers) on Children's Day originated in the Edo period. During the Edo period (1603–1867), samurai families began to decorate their yards with {{transliteration|ja|nobori}} or {{nihongo||吹貫|fukinuke}} flags, which were colored with {{transliteration|ja|mon}} (family crests) to represent military units, during {{transliteration|ja|Tango no Sekku}}. The {{transliteration|ja|nobori}} and {{transliteration|ja|fukinuke}} were then merged, and the first {{transliteration|ja|koinobori}} appeared in Edo (now Tokyo). The colorful {{transliteration|ja|koinobori}} as they are modernly known became popular in the Meiji era (1868–1912).

After Japan switched to the Gregorian calendar, the date was moved to May 5 of the new calendar year. Until 1948, Children's Day was known as Boys' Day (also known as Feast of Banners), celebrating boys and recognizing fathers, as the counterpart to Hinamatsuri, or "Girl's Day" on March 3. In 1948, the name was changed to Children's Day to include both male and female children, as well as recognizing mothers along with fathers and family qualities of unity.{{Cite web |url=https://www.ny.us.emb-japan.go.jp/japaninfo/2017/05/01.html |title=Kid's Corner: Children's Day |publisher=Consulate General of Japan in New York |df=mdy-all |access-date=2019-05-05}}{{Cite web |url=http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/kodomo_no_hi_childrens_day_celebration#sthash.eN36EIoK.dpbs |title=Kodomo no hi: Children's Day Celebration |last=Kigawa |first=Michiyo |website=About Japan: A Teacher's Resource |publisher=Japan Society |language=en-US |access-date=May 3, 2018}}

In the Showa era (1926–1989), the popularity shifted from samurai dolls to miniature armor, and since the 21st century, miniature {{transliteration|ja|kabuto}} have become popular, probably due to the size of Japanese houses.

{{transliteration|ja|Kashiwa mochi}} (sticky rice cakes filled with red bean jam and wrapped in oak leaves) and {{transliteration|ja|chimaki}} (sticky sweet rice wrapped in an iris or bamboo leaf) are traditionally served on this day.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/01/garden/for-children-s-day-sweets-of-course.html |title=For Children's Day, Sweets, Of Course |last=Louie |first=Elaine |date=May 1, 1991 |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 3, 2018 |language=en}} The oak leaf used for {{transliteration|ja|kashiwa mochi}} is said to be a tree whose old leaves do not fall off until new leaves appear, and is considered a good-luck charm representing prosperity of offspring.

Since irises are believed to have medicinal properties and to ward off evil, they are used for various purposes on {{transliteration|ja|Tango no Sekku}}. For example, people would take a bath with irises in the bathtub, soak thinly sliced iris roots or leaves in sake and drink it, or put irises in thin washi (Japanese traditional paper) before putting it in their pillows and going to bed.

• Aging of Japan
• Double Fifth
• Golden Week
• {{transliteration|ja|Kashiwa mochi}}
• International Day of the Boy Child

{{reflist}}

• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-674-01753-5}}; [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48943301/editions?editionsView=true&referer=br OCLC 48943301]

{{EB1911 poster|Banners, Feast of}}

• [http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/calendar/may/children.html Kids Web Japan]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHznlNbpdms Video on Children Day in Fukushima, Japan]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoilg-mtEKw Video on Children Day in Coffs Harbour, Australia]

{{Japan Holidays}}

Category:Public holidays in Japan

Category:Buddhist festivals in Japan

Category:May observances

Category:Japanese words and phrases