Mountain Day
Tomorrow, August 11th, is the Japanese national holiday Yama no Hi or Mountain Day. Over 73% of Japan's terrain is mountainous, so this is a natural fit for the Japanese holiday line up. It was created as a day to honor the cultural traditions and give thanks to the blessings of the mountains. One reason August 11th was chosen for the holiday is that August is the 8th month of the year and the number 8 in Kanji looks like a mountain. Also, the number 11 looks like two trees and most mountains are forested.
It was first observed in 2016. Mountain Day is not part of the Happy Monday system, where some holidays were moved to Mondays to make three day weekends, and is always celebrated on August 11th. There are 16 national holidays in Japan, more than any other G7 country.
2 comments:
I have always been impressed by the number of national holidays in Japan, far more than in Sweden. However, it is hard to workers in Japan to take a long break for their annual holiday, many can only take a week at one time. So the extra days off and the occasional three-day weekends are a blessing. Swedish people can often be off work for a month, as long as someone else is there to do their job, or the workplace closes during a set period.
The only mountain I will climb tomorrow is The Mountain of Work - I am not one of the lucky ones to have weekends off!
Oh I just love the way the Japanese play with dates and words. Another great holiday!
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