FESTIVAL OF YOUTH.

Northern Advocate, 27 August 1924, Page 7

FESTIVAL OF YOUTH.

BOYS' DAY IN JAPAN.

The fifth day of }lay is a nationa holiday for the boys of Japan. Th: 1 (..Jst ot the 1" lying Fish, or, to gi\*v the ilay its Japanese title—Tango X. .Sokku, derives its name from t'h\. thousands of brightly-coloured lis!: which fly from a multitude of polo.s, ropes and roof-tops, whisking their tails gaily in the light breeze. The fish which are made of paper or cotton, vary from two to more than fiv; ; feet in length, and add, with their vermilion tinting, a note of gaiety to the charming natural beauty of the country. "Japanese Boy Day," as the feast is usually known to the Western races, is a united birthday for the whole of the Jananese boyhood. The strictly informal nature of the celebrations permits the boys to be really happy. The sons of one family will visit those Df another, and armed with the long sobu leaves, they will fight again the battles of the knights of old Japan. The emblem of t'he Hying fish is that of the carp, which is the only fisiL capable of swimming against the ■iwift-flowing mountain, streams of Japan, and therefore a. symbol of extreme strength and a great lesson to t'he growing boys, showing them they ire expected to make headway against the torrential flood of Life's difficulties. The number of fish on one mast is usually an indication of the number of male children in the house. The flying fish, however, play but a small part in the festivities of the day. Toys and gifts come out of heavy oaken chests' wherein they have been secreted during the past year. Statuettes of the heroes of Japa:i, both real and legendary, form an important part of the gifts' and are given to the boys to promote' courage and manliness. The favourite character for these? statuettes is "Jimmu Tenno, the first mortal emperor of Japan, and, according to legends, a direct descendant of the Goddess of the Sun. The more prosaic theory is that Jimmu Tenno was an adventurer, coming from the continent of Asia, who discovered the beautiful isles of Japan and subdued the Ainu tribes and other inhabitants of the land. Jimmu reigned for seventy-five years, and when lie died, in 585 8.C., the foundation of the Japanese Empire had been laid. The second favourite statute is that of Benkei, i sacred bull, whilst Kato Kiyomasa, the son of a blacksmith and the leader of t'he army sent to Korea at the end of the sixteenth century, is third. Special foods are served at the feast; one of these is the ChimaTci, which is made of red rice and beans wrapped in lily leaves; another is the Kashiwa mochi, a rice cake wrapped in oak leaves—the sign if endurance and. strength. Every present and dish,given to the boys is for the purpose of making them true subjects of the Mikado and maintaing his state as one of the greatest powers of the world.