The Boy’s Festival (Tango no Sekku) is also called the Iris Festival. It used to be celebrated with an event to remove evil spirits with the fragrance of iris. Later, the word “iris (shoubu)” came to be represented with the homonym that means “to value martial arts,” and the festival started to be used to celebrate boys’ growth.

Shoubu-sake (iris liquor) is recommended if you are a Japanese sake-lover? Shoubu-sake originally requires chopped iris roots soaked for half an hour, but they can be replaced with more readily available stems or leaves.

The pleasant aroma is induced by the fragrance components such as terpenes. It also offers soothing and relaxing effects.