Cute mini carp streamers have been swimming since the start of the week at shopfronts along the arcade on the first floor and basement first floor of the Palaceside Building.
The Palaceside Building Meitinkai (chair Hiroaki Okada) put them up so people can feel a seasonal Japanese tradition. In a typical year a large carp streamer appears in the central atrium of the arcade, but because of the pandemic the display has been canceled for the past two years.
On the Boys’ Festival (May 5), carp streamers—also called “carp windsocks”—are flown to wish boys success and health. In the Edo period, samurai households lined the front of the house with banners marked with family crests, nobori flags, and windsocks; townspeople, it is said, began standing carp streamers outdoors in place of arms, and that was the start.
Fragrant May is coming—a pleasant season.