The banners are made of cloth 7.5 meters long and 85 centimeters wide, and popular designs include a samurai with a Japanese sword, a dragon, a tiger and a carp swimming up a waterfall.

An old Japanese proverb goes ... of Edo), “There is no place in the city where you cannot see large banners, large carp streamers and flags.” Putting up carp banners was a response by ...

It's the height of spring, fields glistening with snow melt from the mountains and nature returning to life as we ride through the Nasu Highlands under hundreds of streaming carp banners ...