February 11th, “National Foundation Day”, I have casually thought
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State of flag raising of Kawaramachi Shijo on February 11, 2022
Yoshie Doi
Festival days and holidays have different meanings. A festival day is a day when an important ritual is held in the imperial family. Other than that, it is called a holiday. There used to be two kinds Festival days and holidays, but after 1948, the “National Holidays Law” came into effect, the festival days were abolished, and the holidays were unified.
I remember when I was a kid, I saw always displayed the national flag on the gate of my parents’ house. February 11th is National Foundation Day, the birthday of Japan. But now, there are few houses or businesses that display the national flag.
Flags are displayed on Shijo-dori and Kawaramachi-dori. About 20 years ago, when I ran a lecture for Americans, I was surprised that the Hinomaru flag was not displayed at the International Conference Hall in Takaragaike, which has a capacity of 1,000 people. Overseas, the national flag is always displayed at this scale conference. I remembered that they raised the national flag in a hurry.
On February 11, the Meiji government designated February 11, 660 BC, when Emperor Jimmu took the throne, as “Kigen-setsu” in 1873. After the defeat of World War II, the GHQ’s occupation policy abolished this Kigen-setsu. However, public opinion about the resurrection of the people increased, and the bill for the resurrection “Kigen-setsu” was submitted nine times, and it was somehow set as a holiday in 1966.
”National Foundation Day” is written on calendars and notebooks. The reason why it is described as National Foundation Day is that Japan’s oldest history book “Kojiki” was compiled in 712 and “Nihon Shoki” was compiled in 720. But, long before that, 1000 years ago. Since there is no literature to confirm, it will be National Foundation Day.
It was the day, when I thought about the founding of ancient Japan while knowing the distinction between festival days and national holidays.
Compared to other countries, it is unusual for the same people to live in the same land for more than 2600 years. Although migration has occurred in Europe, Japan is an island country and is a unique country in the world that has lived since the Jomon period. It was a day when I wanted to study the origin of the country a little more.
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