On Monday, May 5th, Japanese celebrated Children Day (or Kodomo no hi).
On this occasion it is a tradition to fly Koi Nobori flags (flying carp).
Takafumi Suzuki and Hiroko Torigoe (PingMag Make) paid a behind the scenes visit to the Koi Nobori workshop of Mr. Takashi Hashimoto in Kazo City.
To add poetry to the piece they called it The Man who Flies with the Fishes.
Asked about the origins of Koi Nobori, Mr. Takashi Hashimoto says that story has it "that it originates from a Chinese legend. Only the carp that can swim up the Yellow River can become dragons, or so the story goes. So, in connection with that story, people began to fly the carp flags up in the sky with prayers that their children would grow up big and successful".
The art of hand painted Koi Nobori almost disappeared in the 70's he says when cheap nylon ones came onto the market.
What saved them was creativity. He challenged local artisans to come up with new designs and combined the best elements of them.
His shop now counts 17 different designs including the giant one pictured above (no less than 111 meters).
Besides Koi Nobori flag making, Kazo City is also famous for its Udon according to Misako Rocks, a local resident who actually tells us that the giant design above was created some 20 years ago, I guess as a showpiece.
That's It for Tokyo Thursdays #38
Previously: Art of Improvisation in Jazz, Life and Crises: Japan Society, New York, May 20th
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