{"id":178,"date":"2008-11-06T04:26:38","date_gmt":"2008-11-06T08:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=3"},"modified":"2008-11-06T04:26:38","modified_gmt":"2008-11-06T08:26:38","slug":"culture-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/culture-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Culture: Culture Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Culture Day, which is called bunka-no-hi (<\/span><\/span>\u6587\u5316<\/span><\/strong>) in Japanese, is always held the third of November.\u00a0 The purpose of this national holiday is to celebrate and promote Japanese culture and the arts.\u00a0 The cool thing about this holiday is that there is a ceremony called the Order of Culture or the bunka kunsh\u014d (<\/span><\/span>\u6587\u5316<\/span><\/strong>\u52f2<\/span><\/strong>\u7ae0<\/span><\/strong>), which awards those who have made contributions to Japanese culture and art.\u00a0 The Emperor himself distributes the badge to the recipients, which happen to take place at the imperial place.\u00a0 Interestingly enough, past recipients of the badge have not always been of Japanese descent, and some have been awarded the badge after the person has died.\u00a0 I like to think of the Order of the Culture as a Japanese style Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.\u00a0 How\u2019s that for an analogy?!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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I love Culture Day because of the regional festivals and parades that take place in Japan.\u00a0 For example The Hakone Daimyo Gyoretsu (<\/span><\/span>\u7bb1\u6839\u753a\u5927\u540d\u884c\u5217<\/span><\/strong>), translated in English as the Feudal Lord\u2019s Parade, is a well known parade that takes place in the town of Hakone (<\/span><\/span>\u7bb1\u6839<\/span><\/strong>) in the Kanagawa (<\/span><\/span>\u795e\u5948<\/span><\/strong>) prefecture.\u00a0 The parade is a display of clothing from the Edo \u00a0Period (<\/span><\/span>\u6c5f<\/span><\/strong>\u6238\u6642\u4ee3<\/span><\/strong>) of Japan, and consists of many people dressed as samurais and princesses.\u00a0 I like to think of it as a Japanese type of Halloween, without the goblins and ghosts.\u00a0 The parade starts in the morning and lasts until the afternoon.\u00a0 It consists of people numbering in the hundreds, with men who carry wooden palanquins.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Unlike the parades in the U.S., which are motor or electrically powered, the Hakone Daimyo Gyoretsu (<\/span><\/span>\u7bb1\u6839\u753a\u5927\u540d\u884c\u5217<\/span><\/strong>) parade is carried out by sheer man power.\u00a0 As a result, I often prefer to watch than to\u00a0 participate directly in the parade! \u00a0After the parade is over, it\u2019s not unusual to see people drinking and socializing at local shops and restaurants.\u00a0 One of the funniest memories that I had was when a friend of mine drank too much and became convinced she had time warped into the past.\u00a0 With all the Japanese samurais walking around, I guess I can\u2019t really blame her for being confused!\u00a0 Like the Hakone (<\/span><\/span>\u7bb1\u6839\u753a<\/span><\/strong>) region, many other regions have their own unique way of celebrating Japanese culture and the arts.\u00a0 I hope that you all get to visit a region and contrast the different ways each region celebrates its heritage! Until then, watch a Youtube clip of the parade below: <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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