Carp family

Another custom of kodomo no hi is to raise the carp-shaped koinobori flags in front of the house. You see them all over Japan at this moment. The big black carp is the father, the smaller red one the mother - and then there is a small one for each boy; although some families now put one for each child.
The silk carps are also raised as decoration at lots of places, here at the cherry avenue along the Kitakami river.