#oldfolksday — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #oldfolksday, aggregated by home.social.
-
The origins of the holiday are fairly recent.
It is said 'The Legend of Yōrō Falls' (養老の滝) inspired the mayor of Nomadani-mura (野間谷村), in Hyōgo Prefecture, to create the first "Old Folks' Day" (としよりの日 "Toshiyori-no-hi").
Let us put aside for the moment that this famous tale likely took place in October.On September 15th 1947 Nomadani-mura (野間谷村 - later Yachiyo-chō 八千代町, currently Taka-chō 多可町八千代区) in Hyōgo Prefecture hosted the first "Old Folks' Day".
-
The festival soon spread nationwide and in 1966 it was declared an annual national holiday.
Japan, famously, has the oldest citizenry in the world. 28.4% of its population is 65 years or older (1 in 5 people are over 70).September 15th was selected for this holiday because ancient records indicate that this is when Prince Shōtoku (聖徳太子 574-622) opened the Hiden-in at Shitennō-ji.
The Hiden-in looked after the sick and elderly who had no-one to care for them.