Play on Children's Day - Play on Children's Day

Japanese: 子の日の御遊び - ねのひのおあそび

During the Heian period, this was an outdoor pastime enjoyed by aristocrats on the day of the Rat at the beginning of the New Year. Participants included pulling up small pine roots (Komatsuhiki) and picking young leaves, which are thought to have been an attempt to ward off evil spirits at the start of the year by wearing pine longevity charms and eating young leaf soup. Some modern folk customs, such as pulling male and female small pine trees at the first New Year's mountain climbing ceremony and later placing them at the water outlet of a nursery, and the first mountain climbing ceremony itself being called "Nenobi" or "Nenokimukae," are likely small vestiges of this influence.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

平安時代，正月初めの子の日に貴族たちが楽しんだ野遊び。小松の根引き(小松引き)や若菜摘みなどが行われたが，これらは年頭にあたって，松の寿を身につけたり，若菜の羮（あつもの）を食して邪気を払おうとしたものと思われる。現行の民俗のなかに，正月初山入りに雌雄の小松を引いてきて後に苗代の水口に立てたり，初山入りそのものをネノビ，ネノキムカエといったりする所のあるのは，わずかにこの影響が残っているものであろう。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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