Carp Streamers（Koinobori）from Tosa
"Koinobori", carp windsocks, carp streamers or carp banners, decorate the landscape of Japan from April through early May, in honor of Children's Day (originally Boys' festival) on May 5.
In Japanese culture, the carp symbolizes courage and strength because of its ability to swim up a waterfall. The Boys' Festival was an event, expressing hope that each boy in the family will grow up healthy and strong like wild carps. During this festival, people set up a warrior doll or a yoroi armor set in the house, and Koinobori, huge carp-shaped windsocks, outside the house.
Originally, the banners were used by samurai warriors on the battlefield. Whenever the ancient warriors were on the battlefield, they wore full yoroi armor and flew banners.
The banners were painted in various colors and shapes. Some of them had carp pictures on them. They became "carp banners" at the beginning of the modern age. Since the carp's courage and strength is a trait desired in boys, families traditionally have flown koinobori from their homes to honor their sons.
A typical koinobori set consists of, from the top of the pole down, a pair of arrow-spoken wheels (yaguruma) with a ball-shaped spinning vane, top streamer (fukinagashi) that looks like a windsock, a black koinobori and a red koinobori. If more children are in the household, an additional blue, green and then purple or orange koinobori are added. These carp sets are flown above the roofs of houses, with the biggest black koinobori for the father, next biggest red for the mother, and ranging down to the smallest carp for the youngest child.
The village of Ino, situated in Agawa to the west of Kochi, is credited with creating the Tosa style if handmade Japanese paper. Their prized “unwoven cloth” stays together when wet and resists tearing. Every year, at a special festival held around May 5th Children’s Day celebration, over a hundred paper koinobori are released into the sacred Niyodogowa river and sent downstream.
Koinobori, or carp streamers, are a concept like: “Two giant fish- a parent and their kid – swimming through a sea of sky.” These colorful streamers flown during the Boys’ Festival in May to ask for the healthy growth of sons.
The Koinobori in the photograph are antiques from Tosa, a region renowned for producing handmade Japanese paper an paper decorations like these Koinobori. The expressiveness of these hand drawn fish is great.
In the old days, when everything, including toys, was made by hand, the process of creation was a major part of the customs surrounding an object. In May of 2018 , Simple Union teamed up with the hand-painted Brand- The Flying Hawk Studio (TFHS) to reshape the Nike classic running shoe Cortez. This time, the custom design created around the Japanese elements, and chose to use “Father” as the main concept of the creation, and chose the "Black Koinobori " representing Father - (まごい) to pay tribute to all father in the world. In terms of design, the “Squid” pattern created by TFHS is ingeniously integrated into the Swoosh Logo of Nike Cortez. The color of the squid is black and gray, showing TFHS's consistent hand-painting skills. Simple Union also made it special for this shoe by using Japanese Kofu cloth and trade beads that can swing and echo the "Koinobori" carp banner design.
土佐和紙製之鯉魚旗
“Koinobori”-鯉魚風向袋，鯉魚旗或鯉魚橫幅，於4月至5月初裝飾日本的風景，以紀念5月5日的兒童節（原為男孩節）。在日本文化中，鯉魚象徵著勇敢和力量，因為它能夠游泳瀑布。男兒節節是一個活動，表達了希望家庭中的每個男孩都像野生鯉魚一樣健康強壯地成長。 在這個節日期間，人們在房子外面掛上鯉魚旗。
最初，武士戰士在戰場上使用橫幅。 每當古代戰士在戰場上時，他們都穿著完整的盔甲並穿過橫幅。橫幅被塗上各種顏色和形狀。 當中有一些是鯉魚圖片。 它們就是 “鯉魚旗幟”的雛型。由於鯉魚的勇氣和力量是男孩們所希望的特質，因此家庭傳統上會在家中掛上鯉魚旗來祝福他們的兒子。
典型的鯉魚旗套裝包括從桿頂向下的一對箭頭輻條輪（Yaguruma），帶有球形旋轉葉片，頂部拖纜（Fukinagashi）是黑色和紅色鯉魚旗。 如果有更多的孩子在家中，則會添加額外的藍色，綠色，然後是紫色或橙色的鯉魚旗。這些鯉魚套在房屋的屋頂上空飛行，最大的黑色鯉魚旗為父親，下一個最大的紅色為母親，並最小的鯉魚為最小的孩子。
而製造鯉魚旗的物料方面，最傳統是使用土佐和紙(Tosa)。位於高知縣以西的吾川郡（Agawa）的伊諾町，是土佐和紙(Tosa)的發源地。 在世界上很多優美的書畫美術品的修復中，高知縣生產的“土佐和紙”被當作傷痕部分的特殊漿糊黏貼用的紙所使用。包括波士頓美術館所藏的浮世繪和書籍，西斯廷教堂內米開朗基羅繪製的大壁畫，羅浮宮收藏的美術品等很多場所都在使用土佐和紙。而且，其品質被評價為薄而不易破，別名被稱為“蜉蝣的翅膀”，可算是世界上最為輕薄的手工紙。這是通過工匠長年培育出來的技能，加上高知又粗又長的楮樹一起才可以實現。土佐和紙這種既薄又結實的品質已經應用到了各式製品當中，其中之一就是文化財產的修復用紙。每年，在5月5日兒童節慶祝活動舉行的特別節日期間，超過一百張土佐和紙製的鯉魚旗掛在Niyodogawa河的下游。
土佐和紙製的鯉魚旗是一個概念：“兩條大魚 -父母和他們的孩子 - 在天空中游泳。”這些五彩繽紛的飄帶在五月男孩節期間飄揚，期盼兒子健康成長。圖片中的鯉魚旗是以土佐和紙製的古董，這個地區以生產手工日本紙和像鯉魚旗這樣的紙製裝飾而聞名。
這些手繪鯉魚表現出工匠用心的工藝，在過去，所有物品（包括玩具）都是手工製作時，創作過程是圍繞其文化習俗。而早前，Simple Union 聯同手繪單位 The Flying Hawk Studio（TFHS） 重塑 Nike 經典跑鞋 Cortez。這一次的客製設計創作圍繞日式元素，並選擇以父親為創作主軸，選用了代表父親的「黑色鯉魚旗」- 真鯉（まごい）向父親致敬。設計方面，由 TFHS 所創作的「鯉魚」圖案巧妙融入了 Nike Cortez 側身的 Swoosh Logo 之中，兩邊鯉魚顔色黑灰調和，展現 TFHS 一貫精細的手繪畫技；而 Simple Union 也為該鞋款特製了一款日本古布貿易珠配飾，能夠隨步履擺動，呼應「Koinobori」的鯉魚旗設計。
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