Why is “Koinobori” carp? The reason is said to be based on Chinese folklore.(koinobori).
Children’s Day (national holiday; May 5th)Boy’s Day celebration (May 5th)
This is a typical outdoor decoration for Dragon Boat Festival. It is said that the custom originated in the mid-Edo period, when samurai families erected banners in their yards to wish for the growth of their boys. These banners were then transformed into five-colored streamers. At the same time, commoners invented a carp-shaped banner based on a Chinese legend about a carp climbing a waterfall (a carp that climbed a fast-flowing waterfall and became a dragon and danced across the sky), and began to hang it outside. Today, most carp streamers are made up of a set of a streamer, black (true carp), red (scarlet carp), and blue (baby carp), and are decorated with many baby carp to symbolize the family. In recent years, due to housing conditions, carp streamers for balconies and indoor use have also become popular.
