Boys' Day decorations

Let's see... Today is May 2nd in Japan and we have just a couple more days until Boys' Day so maybe I'll show a couple Boys' Day decorations.

Today this is what I ran across at the kindergarten in honor of Boys' Day. Doesn't this seem like an easy craft? It looks like these were made of long envelopes and then painted with fish markings. Very effective and so nice when all of the carp are tacked up on the wall together.

Though many people outside of Japan have heard of or seen the Boys' Day carp decorations, I don't think that the indoor Boys' Day decorations are as well known. This is a replica of a Japanese samurai helmet and I think is made of heavy iron. It usually will sit in the special alcove of a Japanese room during this season and is elaborately embellished with brocade and tooled metal fittings. Often sitting next to the helmet will be a small archery set or a sword and the whole thing is displayed in hope that the boys in the family will grow up to be healthy and strong.

Sometimes you can see whole sets of armor too but even the smaller helmet with all the laquer and gold will dominate the room when it is displayed. Actually I think the flying carp are more popular and both are quite evident in the department stores right now.

I guess if I had my preference I'd prefer having Boys' Day carp flying outside my window than a samurai helmet sitting in my living room but I'm a bit of a pacifist anyway.