Figure 1.--Here we see boys involved in a traditional Japanese festivl in 1962. Unfortunately we do not know which featival this was. Notice here that the boys are wearing a festival robe over their regular clothes. Children (as far as we can tell almost exclusively boys) played a major role in the 20th century festivals.

These Japanese traditional festivals have continued to be popular in the 20th century. In fact they may have been even more popular in the 20th century as people have people can afford to clebrate more flmboyantly, especially after Workd War II. We seem to note fancier costumes than in the past, but still based on traditional styles. Here we only have a few 19th centuyry images for comparison. We are not yet sure, however, as to what extent the modern costumes are accurate rebditions of the festival costumes worn in the middle ages. Often in such feastivals modern styles or the desire for more involved costumes can affect the desire to have an historically correct costume. A factor here is that the children sometimes wear their regular clothes under their fetival clothes. The affluence of modern Japan allows parents to splurge on costumes for their children participating in the festivals. Children play a very important part role in 20th century festivals, although we do not true is that was as trure in the early 20th century. Notably only boys seem to particpate in these festivals, even in the 20th century.

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Created: 6:05 PM 10/1/2008
Last updated: 6:05 PM 10/1/2008