Why display “Armor Decorations” on Dragon Boat Festival. Armor is not for fighting…(yoroikazari)
Children’s Day (national holiday; May 5th)Boy’s Day celebration (May 5th)
One of the indoor decorations for Dragon Boat Festival. These are miniatures of the armor that warriors wore to protect themselves on the battlefield, and are the most powerful of all Tango-no Sekku decorations. There is a theory that the origin of decorating armor and helmets is that warriors dedicated armor and helmets to shrines to pray for their safety before battle, and that around Tango-no Sekku, samurai families displayed armor and helmets inside their houses to dry out insects and for maintenance. Nowadays, armor and helmets are not considered tools for warfare, but rather “something that protects the body,” and are displayed with the hope that they will protect children from traffic accidents, illness, and other calamities, and that they will grow up healthy and happy.
