Medicine Day and Empress Suiko

Among all the child related anniversaries on May 5th annually, is a more solemn yet important anniversary: Medicine Day 薬の日 (Kusuri no Hi). It is a Memorial Day created by the now defunct National Federation of Pharmaceutical Retailers Association to reflect on the long history of medicine in Japan and the role it plays in daily life.

The date of the anniversary comes from an ancient event recorded in the Nihon Shoki. On May 5th in the year 611, Empress Suiko traveled to Udano in Yamato (modern day Nara Prefecture) to conduct a ritual known as "kusurigari": a ceremonial hunt for medicinal plants, trees and even deer. Many of the plants gathered during "kusurigari" were strongly aromatic, such as shōbu (iris) and yomogi (mugwort), both believed to ward off illness and evil when used in baths. This custom survives today in the familiar shōbuyu, Iris bath, tradition of Children’s Day. 

Even the organization that created the anniversary dissolved in 2014, the anniversary still exists and acts as a reminder of how deeply medicine, plants and seasonal rituals are woven into Japanese life. I also find it fascinating that Japan had a "kusurigari" tradition, which literally means "medicine hunt", and that there are mentions of this dating all the way back to 611.