The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings. -- Robert Louis Stevenson

Thursday, 5 May 2011

Koinobori


Today is Children's Day in Japan, so I thought I'd share a picture of some koinobori ("carp streamers"), which are traditionally flown on this day. I photographed them at a kite festival in Harrow last month.

There's a traditional children's song about the koinobori, which you can hear in this wobbly but tuneful YouTube video:




According to Wikipedia, the lyrics are:


Higher than the roof-tops are the koinobori
The large Carp is the father
The smaller Carp are the children
They seem to be having fun swimming.


This year, of course, the occasion is bittersweet as we remember the children affected by the recent disasters in Japan.

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