Colorful carp banners

It is a Japanese custom started during the Edo period (1603~1867).
It is made to decorate at the garden of the house, by imitating the carp fish like swimming in the wind, as a prayer for the successful career and health of the son until May 5 of Children's Day. 

In the olden days, the home with male child will have a colorful carp banner.

Though it is normal, the Japanese household gradually became small and confined as the population increased, and this could be hardly seen in the city.

However, it is possible to see if you go to the countryside.

Recently, a small colorful carp banner for use at the veranda in the apartment house was launched in the market.

It is common site in the spring of Japan, which we do not want to eliminate even if the environment where the young generation lives has changed.

As the child grows up, the carb banners become unnecessary. Recently an even was held in various regions of Japan related to carp banners. The unnecessary carp banners were collected, and was made to swim over the river that flows in the town.

It is colorful and very beautiful site when such carp banners are gathered at one place.

This is the carp banner that we decorated in our garden at our home wishing the grown of our son.

 I wish to the next generation to inherit and continue such old customs for a long time.

Okage Yokocho (Ise Jingu)

The street that crosses over the entrance of the Ise Jingu Shrine is called as Okage Yokocho.
You may like to check the blog on Ise Jingu Shrine in the below link.
http://japanindiacart.blogspot.in/2014/04/ise-jingu.html

http://www.okageyokocho.co.jp/
Here, a lot of souvenir that will remind you of Japan, and delicious foods of Ise special product are available.

There are lot of tourists visiting here at the same time of visiting the Ise Jingu shrine for worship.

The food items that I would like you to have is Akafuku and it can be purchased at HONTEN.

Kindly buy one box of Akafuku first as a take-home item.
However, you have to eat it before the next day because the “best if eaten by this date” is only until the next day.

You can eat the Akafuku at the shop, but there are some Akafuku that can be eaten only at the shop. It is the “Zenzai” and the warm seasonal “Akafuku Kouri”. Please try these two without fail.

Akafuku kept inside the ice is very delicious.

Akafuku in ice

Then, it is Ise Udon.

Ise Udon

There are lot of Ise Udon shops, and you can try it in any shop.

Ise Udon is a type of noodle in which the black and dense broth added to the stock of the fish and the seaweed in soy sauce, is mixed with the thick noodles and eaten.
The Ise Udon is only available at Ise, and hence when you visit here try this without fail.

You can eat the food that has a history of being consumed by the shrine visitors from the Edo period (AD 1603–1867). I think it is the suitable menu to serve the crowd customers visiting Ise.

This is the innermost entrance of Okage Yokocho to Ise Jingu.

Ise Jingu

"Ise Jingu" is a shinto shrine located at Ise City in Mie Prefecture.

The Ise Jingu shrine expressed as the spiritual home of the Japanese people, has tradition and history, and is famous as the best power spot of Japan.

Ise Jingu is the shrine that the people during the Edo period (1603-1868 CE) wished to come and worship at least once in their lifetime.
It is said that the population of Japan at that time was nearly 30 million people, and there is a record of maximum people visited during a year as 5 million people, and this means that one in six Japanese visited and worshipped the temple.
For a one-way trip to the Ise Jingu shrine, it takes 15 days from Tokyo, 5 days from Osaka, 3 days from Nagoya, and pilgrims have visited the Ise Jingu shrine even from Tohoku and Kyushu by walk.
It is said that takes 100 days to reach the Ise Jingu shrine from Kamaishi city in Iwate prefecture.

Initially, the comparatively affluent people save money as a group and their representative will go to visit the shrine. The aspiration for the pilgrimage of Ise Jingu keeps getting strong among the people who know the grace of the god in Ise Jingu. In the course of time, even the woman and the children from each region of the entire country assembled and had the aim to visit Ise Jingu
During the Edo period, the travel of the people was strictly limited, and no one would complaint if it is for Ise Jingu worship. If any of the employee says suddenly on a day that he is visiting Ise Jingu, it seems that the shop employer cannot stop him.
Perhaps they would have thought that stopping someone from visiting Ise Jingu would lead to the punishment of the self by the God.
Ironically, they might be in a convenient period before starting the travel.

Time has passed, and even at present, the belief to Japanese people towards the Ise Jingu shrine is strong, and if you would like to visit the most famous God in Japan, then the Ise Jingu shrine is recommended.