Tango no sekku (Japan)

Tango no Sekku (端午の節句), also known as Ayame no hi , originally referred to an annual ceremony held at the Japanese imperial court on May 5. It was one of the five annual court ceremonies called Gosekku. Since the Kamakura period (1185–1333), when the samurai class seized power, Tango no Sekku has become an event to ward off evil spirits for samurai boys. Japanese armour, kabuto (helmets) and Japanese swords were displayed in houses from the Kamakura period to the Muromachi period (1333–1573). From the Edo period (1603–1867), samurai dolls were displayed in homes, koinobori were hung in gardens. From this period, the custom of decorating houses with offerings on Tango no Sekku spread to the peasant and chōnin classes, and paper kabuto began to be displayed. Since the Showa era (1926–1989), miniatures of samurai armor have become more popular than samurai dolls.

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered to the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands alongside 14,121 smaller islands, covering 377,975 square kilometers (145,937 sq mi). Divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions, about 75% of the country's terrain is mountainous and heavily forested, concentrating its agriculture and highly urbanized population along its eastern coastal plains. With a population of over 123 million as of 2025, it is the 11th most populous country. The country's capital and largest city is Tokyo.