🇯🇵How does Japan mark Dragon Boat Festival?

端午の節句／こどもの日

Local date

May 5, 2027

Japan fixes 5 May as the national holiday Kodomo no Hi, on the Gregorian calendar, so it does not move with the lunar year. The statutory purpose recorded by the Cabinet Office is to respect a child's character, work for a child's happiness, and thank the mother — legally it is not aimed only at boys. The date landed on 5 May because an earlier proposal to merge the 3 March doll festival with the 5 May Tango no Sekku onto 3 May was dropped once 3 May became Constitution Day. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has held a carp-streamer raising ceremony on this day since before the war. The 1948 Act on National Holidays set the fifth of May as Children's Day, and the text speaks of respecting children's character, seeking their happiness — and thanking mothers. A day that began as the boys' seasonal festival was, on becoming a statutory holiday, rewritten to give thanks to mothers as well, and that turn can be read in the provision itself. The iris bath and the carp streamers stayed in custom and never entered the law.