Koinobori (Carp Streamer)

>> Friday, April 30, 2010

--Koinobori--


---means "carp streamer" in Japanese, they are carp-shaped wind socks traditionally flown in Japan to celebrate Tango no Sekku, a traditional calendrical event which is now designated a National holiday; Children's Day. These wind socks are made by drawing carp patterns on paper, cloth or other nonwoven fabric. They are then allowed to flutter in the wind. They are also known as satsuki-nobori (皐幟).

A koinobori set consists of, from the top of the pole down, a pair of arrow-spoked wheels (矢車, yaguruma?) with a ball-shaped spinning vane, flying-dragon streamer (飛龍吹流し, hiryū fukinagashi?) that looks like a windsock, a black koinobori and a red koinobori. If more boys are in the household, an additional blue, green and then purple koinobori are added. The red koinobori's color can be varied as orange or pink. These carp sets are flown above the roofs of houses with sons, with the biggest (black) koinobori for the father, next biggest (red) for the eldest son, and ranging down to the smallest carp for the youngest son.



----


Click here to join Skywatch Friday.

8 comments:

Kim, USA April 30, 2010 at 8:59 AM  

Wow the carp streamer are so colorful it blends well with the blue sky. Awesome shot! Happy weekend!

SkyWatchFriday

Al April 30, 2010 at 9:57 AM  

Fascinating. It looks like somebody has a lot of sons!

Jacqui April 30, 2010 at 2:03 PM  

Wonderful - they look great against that sky, and what an interesting post to go with it.

fini April 30, 2010 at 3:52 PM  

vibrant colours against the cool blue, great capture:)

Megan, Life Revamped April 30, 2010 at 10:52 PM  

thanks for sharing such interesting information!

colorful streamer, too!

Come and skywatch Boracay Sunset with me sometime!
have a great weekend.


xoxo,
FickleInPink

lv2scpbk May 1, 2010 at 5:56 AM  

Interesting streamers. I thought it was someone flying kites at first on the portal. I haven't flown a kite in a long while and came by to comment. Anyway, an interesting photo.

My blog is here Barb's Blog Hope you can take a look. Happy theme day!

Ebie May 2, 2010 at 7:19 PM  

Very colorful! Anna, I love your explanation of the significance of colors. Looks like plenty of boys in those carp.

Post a Comment

FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed

About This Blog

Blog template by simplyfabulousbloggertemplates.com

Back to TOP