What are these things? What’s happening in the sky? This phenomenon is becoming popular in suburban areas in Japan. Not in the countryside where there are plenty of lands for accommodating every Taro’s (equivalent of English Jack) fishes. Those banners are called Koi Nobori (lit. a carp climber) and traditionally raised in the sky by each family with male children to wish for their health and success, on the fifth of May (previously the festival day dedicated to boys).
But why carps? Read more...
One day, my upstairs neighbour, an Australian who had just moved in, complained, “I cannot stand those tatami mats. They are so stinky! What’s wrong with them?” I instantly knew he was referring to that bracing smell (I mean for the Japanese) of freshly prepared tatami mats. Apartment owners in Japan usually renew tatami mats for new tenants, and it was apparent he had got spick-and-span ones.
“Why do they stink?” he demanded. Read more...
July 7 will come. At shrines and temples, local shopping streets, kindergartens, and people’s house doors or windows, guess what? You’ll see paper-decorated bamboo trees. They are the so-called “Tanabata Kazari”, or decorations for the July 7 Star Festival.
But why do people decorate bamboo trees with paper slips for this day?
Read more...
Walking on year-end and New Year’s days in Japan, you may find strange objects made of sharp-slashed bamboo tubes at the entrance of temples, shrines, and even in front of large houses. Look carefully. The cut-out bamboo trees are combined with other trees such as pine, red-berried nandina twigs, and even pinkish cabbages! What are they? What are they placed for? “Let me guess...” you might say, “they are for welcoming fortune?” Or “To ward off evil spirits?”
Nice try! Let’s find the answer here.
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