 |
| 188 Galerie Store Front with Koinobori |
Cooling off the New York City summer heat blazing off pavements as they sway cheerfully in the breeze over the shop's awnings.
 |
| Koinobori for Sale at 188 Galerie |
Koinobori are carp shaped or painted banners and streamers sewn into windsocks to flutter gaily overhead with hopes of bringing good fortune to homes and families that raise them.
 |
| Japanese Koinobori flying in the sun |
Landscapes across Japan are decorated with koinobori - in honor of children, to attract a good future for them, and in the hope that they will grow up healthy and strong.
 |
| Koi pillow on display at 188 Galerie |
The Koinobori Song: [translated]
Higher than the roof-tops are the koinobori
The large carp is the father
The smaller carp are the children
They seem to be having fun swimming.
A typical koinobori set consists of, from the top of the pole down, a pair of arrow-spoked wheels (矢車 yaguruma) with a ball-shaped spinning vane, flying-dragon streamer (飛龍吹流し hiryū fukinagashi) that looks like a windsock.
 |
| More Koinobori for Sale at 188 Galerie |
The number and meaning of the carp socks or koinobori that fly beneath the streamer has changed over time. Traditionally, the set would contain a black koinobori representing the father, followed by a smaller, red koinobori representing his eldest son.
 |
| Interior displays at 188 Galerie |
This is why, according to the Japanese American National Museum, in the traditional "children's song," the red one (higoi) represents the eldest son. If more boys were in the household, an additional blue, green and then, depending on the region, either purple or orange koinobori were added.
No comments:
Post a Comment