Tango no sekku (Boys' Day) carp-banner leaflet (I07-J-1)
A Japanese-language leaflet headed 'Tango no sekku' (the Boys' Day festival, 5 May). Two carp streamers fly from a pole above a village drawn in yellow-green line. The text recalls the custom of raising carp banners for sons, contrasts them with the samurai's weapons and crests, and closes by professing 'deep understanding and sympathy' for the reader's love of his children. The tell is the festival symbol carrying the sender's goodwill: no surrender message and no sender appear on the face.
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army Forces, Pacific, Psychological Warfare Branch
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Leaflet
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Enemy forces
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- Transfer
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- Library of Congress, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; LOC: No known restrictions on publication)
U.S. Army Forces, Pacific, Psychological Warfare Branch (LOT 8093 main entry); Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Text on the object
端午の節句 日本の國民が昔から子供に對し非常に大きな愛情を持つてゐる事は全世界の人々に良く知られてゐます 徳川時代の初期の頃より毎年五月五日に家族の内の男の子の節義を象徴する爲に鯉のぼりを立てる習慣が始まつた 皆さんも御存知の樣に之は武士が當時の戰に用いるのぼり、槍、其他の武器を飾り其の偉勢を示してゐたのに對抗して一般庶民は空高く鯉のぼりを吹き流し愛する子供の前途を祝福したもので此の紙の鯉のぼりは武士の如何なる紋章やのぼりよりもはるかに壓倒してゐた さて現在の烈しい戰の混亂の中にあつても此の美はしい物語りは皆さんの故國に於ける幾多の記憶を呼び起すのに充分でしよう、我々は皆さんの子供に對する限り無き愛情に對し深い理解と同情を持つものであります
The Boys' Day festival (Tango no sekku) That the Japanese people have, since long ago, felt an extremely great affection toward their children is well known to people all over the world. From the early Tokugawa period, the custom began of raising carp streamers every year on 5 May to symbolize the dutiful spirit of the boys in the family. As you all know, against the warriors who decorated their banners, spears and other weapons used in the wars of the time to display their might, ordinary commoners let paper carp fly high in the sky to bless the future of their beloved children, and these paper carp far outshone any warrior's crest or banner. Now, even amid the confusion of the present fierce war, this beautiful tale should be enough to call up many memories of your homeland. We have deep understanding and sympathy for your boundless love for your children.
Machine reading and translation by Claude from the 1024-px LOC image, not checked by a fluent reader. Prewar kana usage and kanji forms (e.g. 對, 樣, 戰, 壓倒) are kept as read; the text was checked against 2x enlargements of the image. Faint show-through of the verso text is visible behind the right-hand columns and is not transcribed. The English text on the verso is not on the committed image.
