Recommended in March! A collection of surprising, little-known trivia that elementary school students will want to share
What comes to mind when you think of March? There are so many events unique to this season, like graduation ceremonies, the Doll’s Festival, and the song of the bush warbler announcing the arrival of spring.
In fact, March has many beautiful alternative names besides Yayoi, such as Sakura-zuki and Hanami-zuki, and there are lots of fun tidbits you’ll want to share—like how the flavor of hina-arare differs between the Kanto and Kansai regions! In this article, we’ll introduce March trivia and topics that even elementary school students can enjoy.
Share them with family and friends, and you might just become a little trivia expert!
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Recommended in March! A collection of surprisingly little-known trivia you’ll want to share with elementary school kids (11–20)
The flavor of hina-arare differs between Kanto and Kansai.
Some households may display Hina dolls for the Peach Festival.
Did you know there’s a difference between the Hina-arare rice crackers that accompany the dolls in the Kanto and Kansai regions? In both areas, three- or four-colored varieties are common, but their shapes and flavors differ.
Kanto-style Hina-arare are sweet and about the size of a grain of rice, while Kansai-style Hina-arare are larger, round, and salty.
Kansai versions also come in many variations, sometimes mixed with shrimp or green laver (aosa).
There are various theories as to why the two styles differ, including the idea that they spread for different reasons in Kanto and Kansai.
It could be fun to open a map of Japan and explore where the taste of Hina-arare starts to change.
Cherry leaves contain toxins.
In spring, cherry blossoms in full bloom are so beautiful, aren’t they? Just gazing at them can make you feel as if your heart is being cleansed.
Many elementary schools have cherry trees in their schoolyards, don’t they? But did you know that cherry leaves contain a toxin? You might wonder, “They’re in sakuramochi and cherry-flavored sweets—is that safe?” In fact, cherry leaves contain a toxic compound called coumarin.
In small amounts it doesn’t harm the body, so it’s fine to eat them together with sakuramochi and the like.
During the hazakura period, when the leaves are out and fall to the ground, they make it harder for other plants to grow.
It’s said that cherry trees have the effect of preventing weeds from growing around them.
In addition to Yayoi, March is also called Kagetsu and Sakura-zuki.
When March comes around, there tend to be more days when you feel warmth rather than cold, don’t you think? It’s well known that March is also called Yayoi, and many of you may know this since it’s sometimes written on calendars.
However, besides Yayoi, it can also be called Hanamidzuki or Sakurazuki.
Although March is often associated with peach blossoms, there’s a reason expressions featuring cherry blossoms are used.
In the past, Japan used the old lunar calendar to determine months by the phases of the moon.
The third month in the old calendar corresponds to around April today, which is why names including “sakura” came into use.
There are also names like Kagetsu and Hanasakizuki.
Why not take this article as a cue to look into the names of all twelve months?
Uguisu color and the actual color of the Japanese bush warbler are different.
The song of the Japanese bush warbler (uguisu) feels like a sign that spring has arrived, doesn’t it? In spring, you also see more treats and breads in “uguisu” color.
That bright yellow-green hue often evokes the fresh feeling of new foliage.
However, it seems there’s a difference between the actual color of the uguisu and what we call “uguisu color.” The real bird is brownish, and depending on the light it can appear greenish.
By contrast, “uguisu color” is a vivid yellow-green.
There are various theories about how this mismatch arose; one suggests people confused the uguisu with the Japanese white-eye (mejiro), a bird with vivid yellow-green plumage and a distinctive white eye-ring.
When you hear the uguisu’s call, try sharing this fun bit of trivia!
Bamboo shoots can grow more than 1 meter in a single day.
Bamboo shoots are one of the tastes of spring.
They’re also made into a famous chocolate snack, so even elementary school kids can easily picture them.
The bamboo shoots used in cooking look cute and plump, but the ones growing out of the ground can reportedly grow more than a meter in a single day.
As the young shoots of bamboo, their growth rate is incredibly fast.
By the way, when they first emerge above the surface, they grow from a few centimeters to several tens of centimeters per day, and their growth speed increases day by day.
Because horsetail resembles a writing brush, it is written in kanji as '土筆' (tsukushi).
Horsetails that pop their cute heads out of the ground and grow.
In kanji, tsukushi is written as “土筆.”
Neither the character for “soil” (土) nor “brush” (筆) is read that way in relation to tsukushi.
It’s a uniquely Japanese ateji (phonetic borrowing), said to come from the way tsukushi grows—looking as if a writing brush is sprouting from the earth, hence “soil brush.” These days, there may be regions where people don’t often see tsukushi.
Along with some spring trivia, it’s also fun to look them up in a field guide or take a trip to the suburbs to find them.
Hishimochi is said to mimic the shape of a heart.
In March, some households display Hina dolls for the Doll Festival.
With the Hina dolls, people offer and enjoy treats like hishi-mochi, hina-arare, and amazake.
Among these, hishi-mochi is notable for its diamond shape and three colors: green, white, and pink.
There is actually a theory that hishi-mochi is modeled after the shape of the heart.
In feng shui, which originated in China, the heart is said to be diamond-shaped.
By eating hishi-mochi shaped like the heart—an organ symbolizing life—it was believed that one could gain strong vital energy.
Since the Doll Festival is a celebration wishing for children’s health, hishi-mochi, considered auspicious, also came to be displayed.
Giving marshmallows on White Day sends the message “I don’t like you.”
March 14 is White Day, when people give return gifts for Valentine’s Day.
Stores sell sweets and other items for reciprocating, don’t they? Marshmallows are a classic return gift, but it’s said that giving marshmallows can imply “I don’t like you” or “no, thank you.” Marshmallows melt away in your mouth, and because they disappear, it’s associated with the idea that “the relationship won’t last.” However, if you learn about the origins of White Day, your image of giving marshmallows may change.
In fact, the treat that inspired White Day was the marshmallow.
Originally, marshmallows were used to wrap chocolate, carrying a warm meaning of “gently wrapping the chocolate you received with kindness.”
In Okinawa, there was a custom of throwing flour at graduation ceremonies.
In Okinawa, there’s a custom of throwing meriken flour at graduation ceremonies.
“Meriken flour” means wheat flour; in the past in Japan, American-made wheat flour was called meriken flour.
These days, most places seem to have stopped the flour-throwing out of consideration for not wasting food, but it used to be a classic, major event.
Since people would throw and sprinkle flour, cleaning up must have been tough, too.
In addition, Okinawan graduations also featured fun traditions like making candy leis to give to the graduates.
You don’t get hay fever in Okinawa or Hokkaido.
Hay fever, with symptoms like sneezing and a runny nose, troubles many people.
In recent years, more and more elementary school children have been developing hay fever.
In fact, the likelihood of getting cedar pollen allergies is low in Okinawa and Hokkaido.
The reason is that there are very few man-made cedar forests in those regions.
After the war, postwar reconstruction and urban development created a high demand for timber, and the government planted many artificial cedar forests.
As cheaper lumber became available from overseas, demand for Japanese cedar declined, leaving many artificial cedar forests in place.
It’s said that the large number of remaining cedar trees disperses pollen and worsens hay fever.