The Japanese Seasons: May

May is a wonderful month with many interesting festivals, customs and holidays. On top of that, May is one of the most pleasant seasons in Japan, when greenery is rapidly increasing under strong sunlight. The traditional name for May is Satsuki, a word possibly derived from a term meaning "early rice sprouts." Around the 6th of May is traditionally the first day of summer. The fine, fresh, clear days which give a hint of the approaching summer are called "Satsuki-bare." 

[Koinobori by Hiroshige]

May starts with Golden Week, which contains four national holidays in a seven-day period. The official holidays are:

April 29, Showa Day (Showa no hi): the birthday of former Emperor Showa, who died in the year 1989.
May 3, Constitution Day (Kenpo kinenbi): commemorates the enactment of the new postwar constitution on May 3, 1947.
May 4, Greenery Day (Midori no hi): dedicated to the environment and nature.
May 5, Children's Day (Kodomo no hi): in fact the day of the traditional Boy's Festival (Tango no Sekku). Families pray for the health and future success of their sons (now also daughters) by hanging up carp streamers and displaying samurai dolls, both symbolizing strength, power and success in life. The Girl's Festival is celebrated on March 3. May 5 is also the day around which courageous rituals such as yabusame (hitting the mark with an arrow from a running horse) and other military arts are performed at shrine festivals.

For example, on May 5 the Kurabe Uma Jinji (Horse-Riding ceremony) is held in the wide grounds of the Kamigamo Shrine. This festival is believed to have originated in 1093, when a horse-riding ceremony was performed for the gods to obtain a good harvest and peace. It was subsequently held every year using horses sent from around the country as offerings to the shrine. Twenty colorfully dressed riders, after first paying homage to the main shrine building, take turns racing their horses two by two.

The counterpart for the hina dolls of the Girl's Festival is the heroic male doll of the Boys' Festival called Gogatsu Ningyo (May Doll). They are also called "yoroi kabuto" (a warrior's armor and helmet) and usually portray heroes from Japanese history and folk tales. Yoroi and kabuto were important items to demonstrate one's heroism in the old days. These dolls, with their intricately made armor, are extremely expensive, and one sees them very little in private homes nowadays.

[Koinobori]

Koinobori, carp streamers, fluttering in the blue sky of May are a great sight. The banners, made of colorful fabric, symbolize carps climbing against a waterfall and show the wish for boys to have the same spirit. The custom originated during the middle of the Edo period and the story of the carp who became a dragon after swimming upstream goes back to a Chinese legend. As it is difficult to put up carp streamers in an urban environment, you see them mostly in the countryside.

Kashiwamochi ("oak leaf rice cakes") are the counterpart to sakuramochi because they are meant for the boys' festival on May 5. They consist of a white mochi (cake of glutinous rice) filled with red bean paste and wrapped in oak leaf. This leaf is not edible - in the past oak leaves were used as plates to hold food. 

[Kashiwa-mochi]

Traditionally, Hachijuhachiya falls on either May 2 or May 3. In the traditional calendar this is the 88th day since the beginning of spring on February 4 (Risshun), and this day was considered suitable for planting seeds and seedlings in the field, including the seedlings of rice. The planting time is considered as the most important part of the agricultural year and is looked upon as a religious festival. The deity of the rice field is present during planting, and songs sung during the planting are addressed to him. This is also the time that farmers can work in their fields without worrying about frost damage to the crops.

Hachijuhachiya is also the time for tea picking (chatsumi). The fresh green tea leaves are full of nutrients and do not have an astringent taste. They come to the market as the new green tea of the year. Japanese green tea can be divided into various types depending on the time of year the leaves are picked and processed. Green tea picked during the best season has a fragrant aroma and refreshing taste.

On May 5 there is also the custom of plucking mugwort and iris leaves and use them in the bath water to ward off evil. This is called shobu-yu, an iris bath. Besides that, a herbal bath is of course good for one's health. 

[Katsuo by Hiroshige]

Early May is considered as the beginning of summer, the time that katsuo, striped tuna fish (also called bonito), migrate north. The first bonito of the season is called hatsu-gatsuo. Bonito had been consumed at court since the third century, but was especially popular during the Edo period (1603-1867). Especially the lean hatsu-gatsuo was considered an expensive delicacy at that time. Indeed, the Edo city people valued the first bonito of the season because they thought everything was "cool" that was first. Basho wrote:

you made it!
getting past Kamakura alive
first bonito of the summer

Much katsuo was caught in the sea near Kamakura, and the fish was not only offered to the great Shinto temple in the city, but also taken to Edo as a gift for the shogun. Hatsu-gatsuo was so highly prized in those days that a saying went, "I would be willing to pawn my wife to be able to taste hatsu-gatsuo." Sashimi or tataki (seared on the outside with the inside remaining rare) of bonito is still popular in early summer.

On May 3 and 4 the Hataka Dontaku festival is held in Fukuoka. The festival is said to have started as a New Year's Day celebration in the Muromachi period (1333-1568) in which local citizens dressed up as the Seven Deities of Good Fortune or as Chigo (child shrine and temple attendants) and performed in the style of the matsubayashi processional then popular in Kyoto. Doll-decorated platforms and elaborate floats (dashi) were added during the Edo-period (1600-1868) when the current name was adopted (apparently from the Dutch word "Zondag", "Sunday," which was taken to mean "holiday").

[The Saio-Dai or Vestal Princess in the Aoi Matsuri parade]

One of the most elegant festivals of Japan is the Aoi Matsuri or "Hollyhock Festival" held on May 15 in Kyoto. The aoi plant (hollyhock or heart vine) is sacred to the Kamo shrines (Shimogamo and Kamigamo in Kyoto) and at the Kamo festival people used to decorate their headdresses and carriages with it. During the Heian Period, these leaves were believed to protect against natural disasters such as earthquakes and thunder, and were often hung under the roofs of homes for protection. The Kamo festival was the greatest festival of Kyoto in the Heian period and still exists as a beautiful panorama of courtly times. The main procession on May 15 is led by the Imperial Messenger, followed by a retinue of 600 people all dressed in the traditional costumes of Heian nobles, plus two oxcarts, four cows and thirty-six horses. The oxcarts are adorned with artificial wisteria flowers. The procession starts at the Kyoto Imperial Palace and slowly works its way towards the Shimogamo shrine and finally (in the early afternoon) the Kamigamo shrine. At both shrines, the Saio-Dai (the Vestal Princess) pays her respects, and the Imperial Messenger intones the imperial rescript praising the deities and requesting their continued favor (read more about the Aoi festival and its role in the Tale of Genji in my article at this blog "Reading the Tale of Genji (9): Heart-to-Heart (Aoi)."

On the third Sunday in May the Mifune Matsuri (Three Boats Festival) of Kuramazaki Shrine is held in Kyoto. The serene atmosphere of the Heian period is recreated on the Oi River where the emperor and his courtiers often went  to view the fine scenery of Arashiyama. Gaily decorated boats float down the river, while music is played on the two larger craft, of which the bowsprits are fashioned in the form of a dragon and a phoenix. The flotilla of boats makes a beautiful panoramic picture coupled with the natural beauty around them.

The third full weekend in May is the time that the Sanja Matsuri is held in Tokyo. During this popular and noisy local festival, on Saturday more than 100 portable machi-mikoshi (shrines belonging the the different wards) in which Shinto deities (kami) reside, are carried through the streets to bring good fortune to the local businesses and residents. And on Sunday, the main festival day, the three main honja-mikoshi make their ceremonial exit from the Asakusa Shrine where they are housed. The festival honors the three founders of Sensoji Temple, who are enshrined in the Asakusa Shrine next door to the temple. For the duration of the festival, Asakusa is in "matsuri mode" and packed with stalls selling food and other items. In the dance known as binzasara-mai the dancers beat time with binzasara, percussion instruments made from wooden slats tied with cord.

Seasonal flowers are tsutsuji (azaleas) from mid-April to mid-May, and fuji (wisteria) from late-April to early-May. 

[Azalea Festival in the Nezu Shrine, Tokyo]

Japan is a paradise for azaleas and the hardy plant has long graced urban gardens, their flowers often lasting several weeks. Their popularity already starts with Prince Kusakabe in 7th c. Nara (who wrote about azaleas in his death poem), and is continued in The Tale of Genji in which Genji gives his young beloved Murasaki a garden where azaleas grow alongside other flowers. In the Edo period, there even was a sort of azalea boom among samurai gardeners, who looking something new, developed interesting new variants of the flower. Despite its popularity, the azalea has been neglected in the decorative arts. By the way, azaleas can be distinguished from rhododendrons  - of which they are a subgenera - by having only five anthers per flower. There are many azalea festivals in japan - for example, the Nezu Shrine in Tokyo holds a Tsutsuji Matsuri from early April until early May. And Shiofune Kannon Temple in Ome celebrates a wonderful Tsutsuji Festival on (and around) May 3.

[Wisteria trellis in the Kasuga Shrine in Nara]

The Fuji or wisteria was considered as an aristocratic flower in ancient Japan, because of its sweet scent and graceful blossoms, but also because the use of the color purple in their dress was a prerogative of court and aristocracy. Its links with traditional culture are numerous:
- In The Tale of Genji, not only is the name "Fujitsubo" (Wisteria Pavilion) given to Genji's stepmother (with whom he falls in love and even has a child), his young beloved was called "Murasaki", "Purple", after the flower - and the author (Murasaki Shikibu) even took this name herself.
- The name of the powerful Fujiwara family means "Wisteria Field."
- A flowering branch of wisteria was an elegant gift, often accompanying a love poem.
- Wisteria were not only grown on trellises, but lustrous cascades of wisteria flowers hanging on old pine trees in the forest were even more admired.
- The image of Fuji Musume (Wisteria Girl) was a bestselling Otsu folk painting and was also adapted to a Kabuki dance which is still often performed.
- Wisteria were also a popular symbol in family crests and heraldry.
- Wisteria were a popular design element in art, for example in the national treasure "Tea-leaf Jar with a design of wisteria" by Nonomura Ninsei in the MOA Museum, or the "Wisteria screens" by Maruyama Okyo in the Nezu Museum.
- Wisteria also appear frequently in poetry, from the Manyoshu to haiku. Basho wrote:

kutabirete | yado karu koro ya | fuji no hana

when - exhausted -
I arrive at my inn:
wisteria flowers!