The wind was strong, so all the carp streamers swimming above the Tsuruudagawa River were in good spirits

Carp streamers swimming vigorously above the Tsuruudagawa River — Carp streamers in Tatebayashi

The history of carp streamers is long. The custom of decorating the entrances of samurai families with banners and flag-decorated objects was originally carried on by merchants in the mid-Edo period, and eventually the decorations were replaced by carp-shaped ones based on the legend of The Dragon Gate. A large carp is also depicted in a Ukiyoe called "Suidobashi Surugadai" (100 Famous Views of Edo) painted by Hiroshige Utagawa in the 1850s, so it seems to have been a common custom by the end of the Edo period. Looking at that Ukiyoe, you will notice that although it is an Ukiyoe, it depicts a pitch-black carp. This is because at that time, brightly colored Nishikigoi were not common, and only pitch-black Magoi were depicted.

Nowadays, when nishikigoi have become common, colorful carp streamers are the norm. The carp streamers displayed along the Tsuruudagawa River that flows through Tatebayashi were also colorful. There were traditional black carp streamers, blue carp streamers, red carp streamers, and green carp streamers. It was a windy day, so all the carp streamers were almost horizontal in the sky. They were so horizontal that it was difficult to imagine a carp swimming in a swift current, as in the legend of the Dragon Gate. If they are just swimming in slow currents like this, it must be impossible for any of the carp streamers to transform into dragons after this.

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