The Origins of Keirō no Hi

The third Sunday in September is a special holiday in Japan, Respect for the Aged Day, or Keirō no Hi. On this day, children and adults give flowers, cards, and various presents to their elders in a show of appreciation. Local communities stage performances, hold festivities, and provide special meals for their senior citizens. TV shows search out the oldest people to ask for longevity advice.

How it all started

Respect for the Aged Day traces its roots to tiny Nomotani Village in the mountains of Hyogo Prefecture, to the west of Osaka and Kyoto. In 1947, the people of Nomotani christened September 15th as Old Folks’ Day. This was done to celebrate the elderly — defined as those over age 55 — for their endurance and fortitude in surviving the difficult years of the worldwide Great Depression and the enormous upheavals and tragedies of World War II.

At that time, there were 8.4 million people over the age of 55 in Japan, of which 3.7 million were over age 65. A mere 55 people were over age 100. Disease, poverty, and war were powerful obstacles to longevity in early 20th century Japan.

As the years passed, Old Folks’ Day gained in popularity, and the practice of honoring the elderly spread. In 1963, the national government began awarding centenarians solid, 10.5 cm diameter, sterling silver sake cups in thanks for their many years of contribution to society. That year, there were 153 people who were over the age of 100.

Elderly population growth

Old Folks’ Day became a national holiday in 1966, renamed Respect for the Aged Day. The number of elderly, now defined as those over age 65, continued to climb until today they make up 30% of the population. Because the population of Japan has been declining since 2009 and the number of elderly is continuing to rise, the over-65 population is expected to reach 40% of the total population by 2055.

Due in part to the country’s extraordinary economic growth and improved healthcare, the number of centenarians has grown from the 55 identified in 1947 to 90,526 in 2022, and now 99,763 in 2025. That’s a lot of silver cups.

Apparently, the government thought so, too. In 2009, in order to cut costs, the diameter of the cups was decreased to 9 cm. Since 2016, the cups have been made from silver-plated nickel alloy.

Happy Monday

Following the passage of legislation to create Japan’s “Happy Monday System,” which moved holidays to Mondays to give workers more three-day weekends, Respect for the Aged Day was moved to the third Sunday in September beginning in 2003.

Longevity

As of 2021, the average life expectancy in Japan was the second highest in the world, being ever so slightly edged out of first place by Hong Kong. In Japan, women can expect to live 88.1 years, and men 81.9 years with an average of 85.03 years. In contrast, life expectancy in the UK is 81.77 years, and 79.11 years in the US.

Local Commendations

Prefectures across Japan have joined the national government in honoring their elderly. In Kagoshima Prefecture, in the south of Japan, newly minted 100-year-olds are visited by representatives of the city government who present them with 50,000 yen ($455 USD) and a large certificate. Kashiwa City, in Chiba Prefecture, gives 30,000 yen ($274 USD), while wealthy Tobishima Village, in Aichi Prefecture, awards each of its centenarians with 1 million yen ($9116 USD).

Could all this attention and respect be another contributing factor to the remarkable longevity of the Japanese? We’ll have to leave that one to the sociologists to figure out.

Sources:

https://nationaltoday.com/respect-aged-day/, government site on state of elderly, https://worldpopulationreview.com/, health checks, https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/, https://population.un.org/, Kagoshima City homepage, Nikkei news, https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/, https://www8.cao.go.jp/kourei/whitepaper/w-2017/zenbun/pdf/1s1s_01.pdf, http://demography.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-6221.html

The post Respect for the Aged Day—Japan’s Unique Holiday for Honoring the Elderly first appeared on More Than Tokyo and is written by Diane Tincher.

The national holiday celebrating children and families

May 5th is Children’s Day in Japan, a national holiday with a long and amazing history.

The Five Festivals

Children’s Day is one of the five seasonal festivals, or go-sekku, brought to Japan from China in the 8th century. These five festivals marked the change of seasons and were days set aside to prepare for the coming months through purification, prayers, and banishment of misfortune. Still celebrated in Japan, they occur on odd-numbered days:

• 1/1 was eclipsed by New Year’s celebrations, so the seasonal holiday was moved to 1/7. It is called Jin-jitsu, Human Day, or Nanakusa-no-sekku, Seven Herbs Day, and is when a purifying rice gruel is eaten. 
• 3/3 Hina Matsuri, Girls’ Day
• 5/5 Tango-no-sekku, formerly Boys’ Day, now Children’s Day
• 7/7 Tanabata, The Star Festival
• 9/9 Kiku-no-sekku, The Chrysanthemum Festival

Precursors of Children’s Day

Children’s Day finds its antecedent in the Iris Festival, Shōbu-no-sekku, also called Tango-no-sekku.

In ancient China, the fifth lunar month was considered unlucky, especially the 5th day, which was called “Double Fifth.” On that day, people hung iris plants, mugwort, and garlic above the entranceways to their houses, believing that these plants would ward off natural disasters, illnesses, and evil spirits.

Centuries later, this custom was carried to Japan and came to include prayers for the upcoming rice planting season. Like the Chinese, the Japanese decorated their eaves with irises and mugwort to ward off misfortune.

As the years passed, new customs were added. People put iris leaves under their pillows to drive away evil and added finely chopped iris leaves to their sake.

Young girls would bathe in water with iris petals for purification. These girls, known as sa-otome, were central to Ta no Kami, or rice field god, festivals held on the day when the rice seedlings were transplanted into the flooded paddies.

These varied forms of purification are still practiced in some households today. Many onsens, or hot springs, across the country offer special Shōbu-no-yu baths with iris leaves on May 5th.

At the ancient imperial court in Nara, aristocratic women wore iris hair ornaments to a grand ceremony in the palace where the emperor would bestow a fragrant kusu-dama upon his vassals. This was an ornamental ball filled with medicinal herbs that opened in half when a string was pulled, dropping its contents. The herbs were for purification and to cast out evil spirits.

Samurai culture gives birth to Boys’ Day

Under the samurai rulers of the Kamakura era (1185–1333), the Iris Festival became Boys’ Day. Samurai focused on raising strong boys to become courageous warriors who would continue their family lines.

The word for iris, shōbu 菖蒲 is pronounced the same as shōbu 尚武, meaning valiant or warlike. That, and the fact that the hanging iris leaves resemble swords, is thought to have played a part in the change. 

Families visited shrines and gave offerings of armor, praying for the health and prosperity of all their sons, but most particularly, their heirs.

People began to decorate their houses with small displays of armor, helmets, swords, and arrows, symbolizing protection for their boys’ health. This custom continues to this day.

Carp streamers

During the Edo era (1603–1867), the practice of hanging koi-nobori, or windsock-like carp streamers, one for each boy in the family, began among the townspeople of Edo (Tokyo). 

Filled with strength, vitality, and adaptability, carp can survive in clear streams and muddy, in marshes and in lakes. They can persevere and struggle to swim upstream and even climb waterfalls. Koi-nobori streamers are hung with the prayer that a family’s sons will grow to be hardy, adaptable, and strong, like carp.

On the riverbanks of Edo, yet another custom began. Ishi-gasen, or stone-throwing fights, and it is exactly what it sounds like. This custom resulted in some serious injuries and even deaths among the young participants, so thankfully, the shogun soon outlawed it.

Children’s Day

In 1948, Boys’ Days was changed to Children’s Day and was christened as a day to celebrate not just children but to honor the family unit. In contrast to Girls’ Day on March 3, Children’s Day is a national holiday.

Celebratory Food

Grandparents and families gather on Children’s Day to eat a special meal, often featuring carp, rice cooked with adzuki beans, and seasonal vegetables.

Children’s day is known for two special types of sweets. Chimaki are rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, chi signifying cleverness. Kashiwa-mochi are sticky rice cakes — soft yet chewy — filled with sweet red bean paste wrapped in oak leaves. Oak leaves symbolize force, manliness, and endurance.

References:

図説民俗探訪事典 compiled by 大島 暁雄, http://www.ningyo-kyokai.or.jp/sekku/tango.html, https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/01/garden/for-children-s-day-sweets-of-course.html, and more.

The post Children’s Day in Japan—Carp Streamers, Samurai, and Sweets first appeared on More Than Tokyo and is written by Diane Tincher.