21st April – 卯月
The rucksack which Japanese elementary school students use when they commute to school.
The most Japanese elementary school students have the big square rucksack called ランドセル (Randoseru), and this commuting style has been very common from back in decades ago.
The origin of ランドセル was in the end of Edo era, Japanese army used the backpack imported from Nederland, called ‘Ransel’. This word turned into ランドセル.
One elementary school called Gakushuin Elementary School, where had the school philosophy of ‘Equality in school education’, started to ban the carriage commuting and force to commute by foot. Therefore, all the students had to carry their luggage by themselves and were treated equally regardless of their family status.
In 1887, 大正天皇 (Taishou Tennou = Taishou Emperor), the crown prince at that time got the present from the prime minister 伊藤博文 (Ito Hirobumi), he offered the similar styled backpack as the army – the square shaped ランドセル. From then, ランドセル gradually become the must item for the elementary school kids.
Just before 2000’s, ランドセル had only 2 colors, black for boys, red for girls. In the older time, ランドセル used natural cow leather. When coloring it, it was very hard to color evenly. However, black and red was the 2 of the colors that were relatively dyed well, therefore those 2 were chosen. Now, as ランドセル use synthetic leather, there are more variation in colors.
Normally ランドセル is used for 6 years throughout the elementary school. So it is important to choose the one which are strong and nice looking! The price range is around US$200 to US$700, the average is US$300. It seems a lot but considering about the years it will be used, it is understandable?!
Little Japan Dictionary 