LIHU‘E — Motorists traversing Kuhio Highway in Kapaia were pleasantly surprised when they were greeted by about two dozen young keiki squealing, jumping, and wishing people, “Happy Children’s Day,” Thursday.
“It wasn’t raining,” said Sandie Fujimoto, director of the Lihu‘e Hongwanji Preschool where the keiki were from. “Sometimes, it’s raining and we can’t do this. We’ve been doing this for several years on Children’s Day.”
The tradition of greeting motorists garbed in an origami kabuto helmet and flying paper fish cutouts and streamers stems from the traditional Boys Day celebration in Japan that is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month.
The tradition came to Hawai‘i with the first Japanese people that were brought here to labor on the plantation fields.
More recently, the Kapaia Foundation with Larraine Moriguchi started stringing koinobori, the term used for the symbolic carp, or koi, in Kapaia Valley after finding pictures of the plantation era camp where residents were gathered around Boys Day koinobori. Her goal was to come up with at least 600 koi, each one representing a family that lived in Kapaia Valley at the time the photo was taken.
The students from Lihu‘e Hongwanji Preschool spent a day frolicking among the streamers set up around the historic Kapaia Swinging Bridge and learned about some of the Japanese folk tales set up on storyboards around the display.
Koi, according to Chinese legend, swims upstream and becomes a dragon, flying to heaven, the koinobori resembling the swimming motion of koi. The kabuto is a traditional Japanese military helmet and symbolizes strength and vitality.
Inspired by this field trip, the students engaged in their own Children’s Day creations at school.
Boys Day was recently changed to Children’s Day to respect children’s personalities and to celebrate their happiness, states the Alan Wong website. It was declared a national holiday by the Japanese government in 1948 and today, is the final celebration in Golden Week.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
