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 Warrior Dolls (Musha Ningyo)
On May 5th of each year, the festival of Boy's Day (known more recently as simply Children's Day) or Tangu-no-Sekku, is celebrated. This festival, which dates back to the Nara period (710-794), traditionally celebrates 'masculine' virtues of the samurai class. Armor and arms were displayed outside homes of the samurai class in which young boys lived, along with irises, which signified masculinity, their long pointed leaves reminiscent of swords and spears. In the late 18th century, dolls began to be included in the display. These dolls were most often of samurai and other warriors, called musha ningyo.
Displays for Boy's Day are not nearly as standardized and ritualized as those for Girl's Day, and so there is a great deal of variance in size of display and in the figures represented. Themes of courage, loyalty, and strength are common. Besides more generic samurai figures, who do not necessarily represent any one particular person from history in particular, common figures include the Empress Jingu (often the only female permitted in the display) and her general Takenouchi-no-Sukune, Yoshitsune and his retainer Benkei, Emperor Jimmu, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Also typical of Boy's Day displays is the koinobori, or carp banner, which can be seen flying above many homes on Boy's Day.
  
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