The Five Sekku The word “sekku” in Japanese is based on the word “setsu” which refers to seasonal divisions according to the Chinese calendar used during the Tang Dynasty in which overlapping odd numbers were considered inauspicious when accumulated (yang).

To balance this, events called “Hija” were held and led to customs where people received life energy from plants and conducted rituals to purify evil spirits.

It is said that due to a combination of the Chinese calendar and Japanese farming customs, feasts were held at the imperial palace on certain days to ward off evil spirits and these days became known as “sekku”.