母の日【ははのひ】 haha no hi Mother's Day [2nd Sunday in May] (early summer)
行事【ぎょうじ】 gyōji Observances
端午【たんご】 tango Boys' Day [5 May] (early summer)
- 五月の節句【ごがつのせっく】 May Festival [=Boys' Festival]
- 重五【ちょうご】 chōgo Fifth-Day (Festival) [literally something like "Big Fifth"]
- 菖蒲の節句【しょうぶのせっく】 shōbu no sekku Iris Festival
- 菖蒲の日【しょうぶのひ】 shōbu no hi Iris Day
This refers to May 5th, or the first day of the May Festival (五節句 [ごせっく],go sekku).
It comes from the traditional Chinese custom of mourning the patriotic poet Kutsugen, who committed
suicide by drowning on this day. This Chinese custom was appropriated by the Japanese imperial court
in the Heian Period as May Festivities. The festivities are also called the Iris Festival (菖蒲の節句
[しょうぶのせっく] shōbu no sekku) because irises were used as symbols to ward off
evil, due to their strong detoxifying effect. With the ascendancy of the feudal political system, the
day also became a celebration of boys, because of the pun of "iris" with "militarism" (尚武 [しょうぶ],
shōbu). After World War II, "Boy's Day" grew increasingly more associated with a general
wish for children's growth, and became "Childrens' Day" (子供の日 [こどものひ, kodomo no
hi]. Also, in traditional agricultural society, this was the day that women stayed inside the house
under the iris-adorned roofs believed to ward off evil, and purified themselves before they started planting
the rice-fields. Some regions called this "Woman's House" (女の家 [おんなのいえ], onna
no ie) or "Woman under the Roof"(女の屋根の下[おんなのやねのした], onna no yane
no shita). The event derives from another appropriation of Chinese cultural tradition into the Japanese
cultural tradition: the period of rice-planting, May in the lunar calendar, was often associated with
abstinence in China.
[The arrow wheel is a decoration for the festival.]
In some regions, the May Festivities start on May 5th of the lunar calendar. Against the backdrop of
these mountain villages, where trees have turned green waiting for the imminent rainy season, the decorative
streamers flutter.
二人子をあづけて病める端午かな
石田波郷
futari ko o azukete yameru tango kana
asking my two children to be looked after
in sickness
when it is Boy's Day
Ishida Hakyō
兄と読む一つ絵本や端午の日
高田風人子
ani to yomu hitotsu ehon ya tango no hi
together with my older brother,
reading the picture book
on Boy's Day
Takada Fūjinshi
旅の空矢車鳴りて端午なり
及川貞
tabi no sora yaguruma narite tango nari
on the road
the arrow wheel rings in the sky
and it is Boy's Day
Oikawa Tei
岨高く吹流し立つ旧端午
羽田岳水
soba takaku fukinagashi tatsu kyūtango
the steep cliff,
the rising streamer
the old Boy's Day
Haneda Gakusui
幟【のぼり】 nobori (carp) banner/streamer [decoration for Boys' Day] (early summer)
- 五月幟【さつきのぼり】 （皐月幟） satsuki nobori, fifth (lunar) month banner/streamer
- 鯉幟【こいのぼり】 koi nobori carp banner/streamer
- 座敷幟【ざしきのぼり】 zashiki nobori living-room banner/streamer
- 初幟【はつのぼり】 hatsu nobori first (carp) banner/streamer [that is, celebrating the first-born son]
山開【やまびらき】 yamabiraki Mountain Opening [for mountain climbing; dates vary according to particular mountains] (late summer)
鬼灯市【ほおずきいち】 hōzukiichi （ほほづきいち）, Chinese-lantern (plant) market [9-10 July, Tokyo] (late summer)
- 酸漿市【ほおずきいち】 hōzukiichi Chinese-lantern market
祭【まつり】 matsuri festival [any one of numerous summer festivals at different times] (all summer)
- 夏祭【なつまつり】 natsu matsuri summer festival
- 祭囃子【まつりばやし】 matsuribayashi festival orchestra
- 祭笛【まつりぶえ】 matsuribue festival flute(s)
- 祭太鼓【まつりだいこ】 matsuridaiko festival drum(s)
- 祭髪【まつりがみ】 matsurigami festival coiffure/hairdo
- 祭笠【まつりがさ】 matsurigasa festival hat
- 祭提灯【まつりぢょうちん】 matsurijōchin festival lantern [portable]
- 祭宿【まつりやど】 matsuri yado festival inn
- 御旅所【おたびしょ】 otabisho portable shrine
- 夜宮【よみや】 yomiya festival eve
- 祭前【まつりまえ】 matsuri mae pre-festival [preparations]
- 祭後【まつりあと】 matsuri ato post-festival
- 祇園祭【ぎおんまつり】 gion matsuri Gion Festival [Kyoto, 17-24 July]
The summer festivities held in temples are generally grouped together and called festivals (祭
[まつり] matsuri); "festival" is the seasonal word for summer. The phrase "summer festival"
( 夏祭 [なつまつり] natsu matsuri) is in wide generic usage, but this expression is tautological
as a seasonal word. The festivities held in spring or autumn are also considered seasonal words: "spring
festival" (春祭 [はるまつり] haru matsuri) and "autumn festival" (秋祭 [あきまつり]
aki matsuri. Traditionally in classic Japanese literature, the festivals referred to the cultural
tradition in Kyoto during the Heian period, and specifically meant the festival at Kamo Temple （賀茂神社 [かもじんじゃ],
Kamo Jinja）on the day of the Tori in April. Today, that festival has become a seasonal word
in its own right, as Kamo Festival (賀茂祭 [かもさい] Kamo Sai) or the Hollyhock Festival
( 葵祭 [あおいまつり] aoi matsuri). It is believed that the festivals are largely held
at temples in the summer, in all parts of Japan, for the purposes of purification and exorcism (relating
to agriculture). The festivals are held in order to pacify evil spirits, which are believed to be active
in the summer, with prayers to contain their violence. A representative example of this is the Gion
Festival (祇園祭 【ぎおんまつり】gion matsuri), which is usually an elaborately conducted
festival complete with decorative arms (鉾[ほこ], hoko) and the sending-out of a portable shrine
(神輿 [みこし], mikoshi). The style has influenced other regions, where the portable shrine
and floats (山車 [だし], dashi) have become central to the festivities. The festivities often
carry over from sunset to the early morning hours. The early evening festival (宵宮 [よいみや]
yoi miya) in particular is very lively. On the day of the festival, the festival god is said
to depart from the shrine and make rounds, stopping at certain resting places for the portable shrine.
This is called the Imperial progress (渡御 [とぎょ], togyo).
The poet takes a look back at childhood. Stepping out of the threshold, the child can see nothing but
the lively crowd attending the festival. The poet still remembers the big hand of the father who took
him by the hand. Holding fast to his father's hand, the poet must have walked among the festive crowd,
looking this way and that, and the memory stirs up nostalgia.
池の水きのふかへたる祭かな
大場白水郎
ike no mizu kinō kaetaru matsuri kana
the water in the pond
yesterday [we] changed
at the festival
Ōba Hakusuirō
神田川祭の中を流れけり
久保田万太郎
kandagawa matsuri no naka o nagare keri
the Kanda River
flowed on through
the festival
Kubota Mantarō
祭笛吹くとき男佳かりける
橋本多佳子
matsuribue fukutoki otoko yokari keru
blowing a festival whistle
man is
good
Hashimoto Takako
家を出て手をひかれたる祭かな
中村草田男
ie o dete te o hikare taru matsuri kana
leaving the house and
taken by the hand--
it was the festival
Nakamura Kusatao
御祓（禊）【みそぎ】 misogi purification rite/ritual/ceremony (late summer)
- 夏越の祓【なつごしのはらえ】 natsugoshi no harae summer-passage purification
- 水無月祓【みなづきはらえ】 minazuki harae waterless month purification
- 御祓川【みそぎがわ】 misogigawa purification river
- 茅の輪【ちのわ】 chi no wa circle of thatch [through which one goes during a purification rite]
安居【あんご】 ango (summer) seclusion [Bhuddist monks' period of staying in temple or hermitage, traditionally from the middle of lunar fourth month through middle of seventh month] (all summer)
- 夏安居【げあんご】 geango summer seclusion
- 夏行【げぎょう】 gegyō summer seclusion [literally, "summer practices"]
- 夏籠【げごもり】 gegomori summer confinement
- 雨安居【うあんご】 u-ango rainy seclusion [relates to 梅雨【つゆ】 tsuyu, rainy season]
- 一夏【いちげ】 ichige all summer / whole summer / summer-long (seclusion)
桜桃忌【おうとうき】 ōtōki Cherry Memorial Day [19 June; death anniversary of novelist Dazai Osamu 太宰治 (1909-1948); note: 桜桃【おうとう】 ōtō refers to the edible fruit] (mid summer)
- 太宰忌【だざいき】 dazai-ki Dazai's (Death) Anniversary
河童忌【かっぱき】 kappa-ki Akutagawa's (Death) Anniversary [24 July; celebrating Akutagawa Ryūnosuke (1892-1927); named after his last novel, Kappa (Water Sprite)] (late summer)
- 我鬼忌【がきき】 gakiki Akutagawa's (Death) Anniversary [based on his haikai pen name]
- 龍之介忌【りゅうのすけき】 ryumacr;nosuke-ki Akutagawa's (Death) Anniversary
