Boy’s Day is the fifth day of the fifth month, May 5, each year, and most of us really don’t have any idea what it’s about.
Hawai‘i is definitely made special by cultural gifts received from the countries whose citizens immigrated to the islands long ago. One of the imported cultural traditions that sets Hawai‘i apart from most of the U.S.A. is the celebration of Girl’s Day and Boy’s Day, on March 3 and May 5, respectively.
When I heard of Toki Ikeda Ching’s book, Boy’s Day in Hawai‘i with Yuki-chan and Grant, I was very glad for the opportunity to learn something about the holiday—why it is celebrated, since when and with what meaning, for instance. One of the reasons I found this especially interesting is that I had heard several times over the years that Boy’s Day and Girl’s Day in Hawai‘i are very different from what the holidays have become in Japan.
I wish I had wonderful news for you, but I don’t. Ching’s Boy’s Day in Hawai‘i is not the book I was hoping for, which is not to say it is “nothing.” I now understand something of why Boy’s Day is symbolized by colorful carp-shaped windsocks. I learned a little bit about the boy we see in figurines associated with animals and often riding a carp. His name is Kintaro. Until now, I didn’t even know that. The other, usually much younger boy who is sometimes depicted stepping out from between two halves of a peach is named Momotaro. I didn’t know that he is the same boy we also see slaying ogres, just at a much younger age. So it went for me as I read Boy’s Day in Hawai‘i. On almost every page, I found information that was new and interesting to me.
That is more than enough reason to buy and go through the book with the children in your life. But there are problems too.
The author writes in an annoying, preachy way—sounding a lot like the grandmother many of us have, the one we hoped (in childhood) never to have to visit. Instead of writing the story to illustrate the cultural and historic information, she writes the story as a way to have two-dimensional characters announce, pronounce and assert the facts. The children don’t learn anything, they are just told what they should know. Unfortunately, illustrator Sets Arai provides images that do nothing to elevate the level of the book.
The other problem is a confusing one. Despite the title of the book, particularly the words “in Hawai‘i,” Ching blithely turns Boy’s Day into Children’s Day. She says that Japan made this change in 1948, so our young hero’s sister can be represented by one of the carp that are meant to represent the masculine qualities of a growing boy. I checked. It’s true that the government of Japan changed May 5 from Boy’s Day to Children’s Day, and made it a national holiday, but this change has not yet been accepted by the people They still tend to celebrate girls on March 3, which is still called Girl’s Day, but is not a national holiday.
In Hawai‘i, we have no such confusion. Three-three is for girls; five-five is for boys.