Carp streamer - Koinobori

An exterior decoration erected on the Boys' Festival to pray for the success and health of boys. Carp streamers. During the Edo period, the samurai class held this event in high regard as the shobu (Iris) Festival, and it was popular to line up samurai decorations such as flags bearing the family crest, banners, and streamers in front of the entrance of their houses. In response to this, the townspeople began the custom of erecting carp streamers instead of weapons from the mid-Edo period onwards. Carp are familiar as symbols of success and advancement due to the Chinese legend of the Dragon Gate, and carp pictures are also painted on the iris streamers of the Boys' Festival. These carp are made into small paper pieces and used as the maneki (small flags) of the banners, which are then made into streamers and become independent. The proper arrangement is to place the magoi (black) on top and the higoi (red) on the bottom. Until the Meiji period, most were made of paper, but nowadays cotton and synthetic fiber ones are on the market.

[Ryosuke Saito]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

端午の節供に男児の出世、健康を祈って立てる外飾り。鯉の吹流し。江戸時代、菖蒲（尚武）(しょうぶ)の節供として武家階級ではこの行事を重んじ、家紋をしるした旗差し物や、幟、吹流しなどの武家飾りを、玄関前に並べ立てることが流行した。これに対抗して町人層では江戸中期以後、武具がわりに鯉幟を立てる風習が生まれた。鯉は中国の竜門伝説の故事から立身出世の象徴として親しまれ、端午の節供の菖蒲幟にも鯉の絵が描かれた。この鯉が小さな紙製となり、幟の麾(まねき)（小旗）に用いられ、さらに吹流しにつくられて独立した。真鯉(まごい)（黒）を上に、緋鯉(ひごい)（赤）を下にするのが正式とされている。明治期までは大半が紙製であったが、現在は木綿製、化繊製のものが出回っている。

［斎藤良輔］

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