TOCHIGI — More than 1,100 carp streamers are on display across a local river in this east Japan city during an annual spring festival, casting their colorful reflections on the water’s surface as they are caressed by the wind.
The 21st Uzuma no Koinobori festival is being held ahead of Children’s Day on May 5. The carp streamers are being provided by local nonprofit sightseeing boat operator Kuranomachi Yuransen, livening up the banks of the Uzuma River.
The 1,151 carp streamers — the figure being a play on the Japanese phrase “ii koi” meaning good carp — are hung along an approximately 600-meter stretch between the Tokiwa and Uzumagawa bridges, known for its Edo period (1603-1867) wholesale shop-storehouses and earthen warehouses, to the delight of locals and tourists alike.
A local pair who said they visit the festival every year told the Mainichi Shimbun, “Though the wind was blowing so hard, we enjoyed watching the carp streamers flowing vigorously,” and, “From aboard the boat, the carp streamers appeared as if they were swimming in the sky.”
The festival runs until May 11. For inquiries, call Kuranomachi Yuransen at 0282-23-2003.
(Japanese original by Yuzuru Ota, Ashikaga Local Bureau)