Talk:Children's Day (Japan)

Tango no Sekku now redirects to Kodomo no hi. The original text in Tango no Sekku was:

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 * May 5th is the Tango no Sekku (&#31471;&#21320;&#12398;&#31680;&#21477;), Boys' Festival in Japan. It is the festival of hope that all of the boys in each household will grow up healthy and strong. Warrior figures (often the dolls of boys in suits of armor), helmets, and suits of armor are set up in the house during this festival. Iris leaves &#33750;&#33970; &#12304; &#12375;&#12423;&#12358;&#12406;&#12305; (shobu) are placed under the eaves to fend off evil, and huge, colorful streamers shaped like koi (koinobori) are fastened to poles. Carp are thought to be very strong, as they swim up even big waterfalls. Special rice cakes wrapped in oak leaves (kashiwa mochi) and cooked rice wrapped in bamboo grass and tied with straw (chimaki) are eaten on this day.

feel free to incorporate this in Kodomo no hi. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.229.230.143 (talk • contribs).


 * "Tango no Sekku" refers to the date on the lunar calendar and farmers almanac that is observed around the world, but "Kodomo no hi" refers to the specific Japanese holiday. -- Emana 21:39, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Tango no Sekku and Children's Day Are Separate
"Children's Day" is a recognized national holiday that celebrates children who are both boys and girls, but Japanese families continue to observe separate "Tango no Sekku" (AKA Boy's Day) festivities. Though they are celebrated on the same day, they are actually two separate things. There is a Boy's Day and a Girl's day, but one lands on a national holiday (Boy's Day lands on Children's Day) and the other does not.Solar3939 (talk) 02:22, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

Meaning of the holiday?
Is the purpose of the holiday to "celebrate children's personalities and their happiness," or to "Celebrate the happiness of all children and to express gratitude toward mothers"? The article says both, and the two are pretty different. The second would be more in line with Confucian values, in which obligation, money, loyalty, etc., all are owed to powerful figures, such as parents.

Kchwe (talk) 20:41, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

20:40, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

Deliberate Change?
Admittingly I do not have the resources to back this up, but could the gov'ts changing of the Boy's Festival to "Children's Day" have been a deliberate move? On Children's Day, otherwise known as "Boy's Day," the symbolism strongly suggests the Samurai. The article reads that on this day, it was hoped that boys became healthy and strong. Could it be that the hope was for that one day the boys grew up to be Samurai? And the feudal system elliminated, this holiday was elliminated also, symbolically putting a further end to the feudal era? I find it strange that while "Boy's Day" has been eliminated in favor of the more "PC" "Children's Day," while there continues to be a "Girls Day." Girls get celebrated twice. Boys have to be lumped in the "Children's Day." I have a feeling that no matter what, this day will continue to be known by its original name "Tango no Sekku" and "Boy's Day." There's a Girl's Day, there should most definitely be a Boy's day. Our differences shouldn't be shunned, they should be celebrated.222.151.236.116 (talk) 07:09, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

No merge
This is too much material to merge into Children's Day. Kappa 10:21, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

I think Kodomo no hi is distinct enough to have an article by itself. I love the flying fish ! :-) -- PFHLai 15:16, 28 September 2005 (UTC)


 * I think this article's existance is just stupid. --AnY FOUR! (talk) 12:48, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

I think the comment above is not constructive and irrelevant. If someone doesn't like an article, s/he can always choose not to read it, or to change it. (This IS WikiPedia, right?) Having said that, I'm glad there is an article on Children's day, though, like another person on here, I think that it should have stayed "boy's day." Kind of sexist to elliminate boy's day and leave behind girl's day isn't it... Why are girls more special that they can have their own holiday? That's not cool. The Japanese government should change it back.210.133.127.14 (talk) 04:37, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I agree. The above comment is kind of uncalled for.Kogejoe (talk) 04:40, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Um...
Shouldn't the Japanese title be "子供の日", with the Kanji, and not in Hiragana? Moocowsrule (talk) 05:15, 29 October 2008 (UTC)moocowsrule
 * I went to the Japanese Wikipedia and saw that they use Hiragana and when I typed in the Kanji it was redirected to the page with the Hiragana. So I believe it should stay the way it is. Moon   ( Sunrise ) 01:11, 30 October 2008 (UTC)
 * I went to the Japanese wikipedia page after I posted that comment, and realized that they use "こども" not "子供". But I think it has something to do with the fact that the Kanji for "Hi" is so simple, while the Kanji used for "Kodomo" is not so simple, and it's supposed to be about children, and children don't know that many Kanji. Moocowsrule (talk) 02:28, 30 October 2008 (UTC)moocowsrule

There is a movement to use less kanji in Japanese for varying reasons. In the cases where the kanji are just too hard to learn because there are many strokes, and it would just be simpler to write the kanji in kana, hiragana and sometimes katakana is used. For example, for skin, or "hifu," the kanji is "皮膚" but it's almost always written "皮ふ." For the case of lottery, (takarakuji), it is written "宝くじ" instead of the more complicated "宝籤." But "kodomo" (子供) is a special case. The kanji 供 means "to offer up," i.e., to offer up for a sacrifice. (供える/sonaeru) This kanji is fairly simple, so it's not that it's "too hard to write"; Japanese simply don't like the idea of children being something you "offer up," so "子供" is not often used. Do not be surprized if a Japanese tells you you shouldn't write "子供" and asks you to write "子ども" instead.Kogejoe (talk) 04:26, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Did my research, and apparently another word that is associated with the kanji "子供" is "家来" (kerai), meaning "servant" or "follower." "お供" (otomo) in and of itself means "follower, companion." Leading to "servant." Japanese don't like the connotation of "little servants." With all those negative connotations for the kanji for child, Japanese view writing "kodomo" with kanji as simply no longer necessary. Completely writing the word in hiragana also adds that feeling of innosence; children first learn to write in kana before learning to write kanji. So then, even "子ども" isn't even widely used. More and more Japanese simply write "こども". As a fervent student of kanji, initially I was disappointed, as I find it frustrating taking the time to learn kanji not even the Japanese use. But then, it IS their language and who am I to tell them how they are to use it.Kogejoe (talk) 08:06, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Other places?
Where is a source to support the claim that such a "holiday" would extend to Vietnam or the Chinese countries? I thought it was a pure Japanese thing. ★ Dasani ★ 04:42, 1 October 2009 (UTC)