May doll

May dall

 "Gogatsu-ningyo(五月人形)" or "May doll" is Japanese expression meaning a display for the May 5th festival. May dolls nowadays are not dolls but imitations of armor, helmet, and swords. As a matter of common sense, you should say "Kabuto-kazari(兜飾り)", display of helmets and armors. But Japanese usually don't say it "Kabuto-kazari" but "Gogatsu-ningyo," why? 

What is the May 5th festival? Japanese usually call this festival "Tango-no-sekku.(端午の節句)" This May 5th festival was the celebration of the first son of a samurai family in the old days. It happened to begin in the samurai families during the Muromachi(室町) era (approximately 600 years ago). For the samurai clan, having the male heir was crucial to their survival. So, the birth of the male heir is the happiest thing for the family. They celebrated the incident by decorating the most important goods, armors and helmets in front of their living space, the entrance.

At the later half of the Edo period (approximately 300 years ago), several ordinary people came to rich. They also hoped to celebrate the birth their heir, because for them, it was a very important event to have their heirs. They imitated samurai families, however they weren't samurai, so they didn't have armors and helmets. Instead of the guarding equipment, rich civilians made dolls of warriors. 

After the Meiji(明治) period (approximately 150 years ago), samurai left the historical stage, and the civilians controlled Japan. They made gorgeous dolls for their May 5th festival. The name "Gogatsu-ningyo" or "May doll" would take root then. Around this time, the displays for the May 5th festival were warrior-dolls, so it's quite appropriate to call the display "May doll."  

When the Showa(昭和) era began, the displays of the festival changed from the warriors dolls to the armors displays centered the beautiful helmets. After that, a main display was still a helmet but its surroundings were changed. Sometimes it was the many layered displays, and the other time it was very compact helmet, swords and banners display. They changed many time according to the demands of the times. These days, the displays are very compact because of the impact of nuclear families.

Tango-no-sekku.

"Tango-no-sekku" is believed to be the festival of the male boys festival, however, in the old time, it wasn't the male boys festival. This festival was happened from the old Chinese diary in the Heian period (approximately 1100 years ago). According to the old Chinese diary, May was not so good month, and they believed the unclean-things would happen this month. The item to exclude filth concerned the month, May was considered as the plant, iris. Iris's pronunciation is sounded like 'Shobu(しょうぶ)' in Japanese.

This festival changed the celebration of the first son's birth of a samurai family. Because 'Shobu(尚武)' was a very important idea for the samurai family. For them, 'Shobu' meant the idea to respect and regard military arts. On the other hand irises pronounced 'Shobu(菖蒲)', so, irises became the symbol of their idea. 

The words of Japanese have limited pronunciation. It has many same-pronunciation-and-different-meaning words. People in the old days felt the importance between 菖蒲 and 尚武.