Zakka 81: Children's Day - Musya ningyo & Kabuto

I wrote about Children's day last time, but let me explain again for new visitor's :)

Children's Day is a Japanese holiday which takes place annually on May 5th, It is a day set aside to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness.
But also known as "Tango no sekku", Families with young boys put up "Koi-nobori" (carp stream) in their yard and display dolls called "Musya ningyo" patterned after historical warriors and heroes to pray for their health and success in life.

Today, I show you little bit about more "Musya ningyo"

Musha ningyo (武者人形：Warrior dolls) also called "Gogatsu ningyo" (五月人形：May doll).

A set of Armour, helmet and other things the samurai warrior of old carried during wartime are displayed.

Parents display the dolls wishing for their boys to grow into strong and powerful man like a samurai!!

But, whole "Musha ningyo" is pretty big, we just display samurai warrior helmet instead of whole doll these days.

Now, we have an another doll, called "Kintaro" , Kintarō is the childhood name of "Sakata no Kintoki" who was a hero in the Heian period. He having been famous for his strength when he was a child. It is said that Kintarō rode a bear, instead of a horse(!!) and played with animals in the mountains when he was a young boy. So, that's why we display "Kintaro" it represents strength and healthy boy!