The Ancient Holiday That Became Children’s Day

Boy’s Day was held on the fifth day of the fifth month as an answer to Hina Festival for girls (March 3rd). This day people with boy’s let fly Koi no Bori (Carp Streamers), put a dressed up a samurai doll or helmet on display, read stories like Momotoro and Kintaro, have parties, give presents to the boys, and/or have an iris bath (shobu-yu) and place an iris by their front door to ward off evil. For the parties there are a variety of dishes such as kashiwa mochi, soft rice cakes with anko red bean filling wrapped in an oak leaf, or chimaki, an item of Japanese confectionery wrapped in bamboo leaf along with red snapper and chestnut.

References

In English

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tango_no_sekku

https://matcha-jp.com/en/2719

In Japanese

https://kougetsu.co.jp/tangonosekku/tango-iware.html

Image thanks to 鳴神 @ PhotoZou.jp

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