A whale of a "kushi" day

September 4th can be read as "kushi" in Japanese. "Ku" is one reading for "9", and "shi" is one reading of "4" in Japanese. There are at least four anniversaries on today, and annually on September 4th, that play on that pronunciation: one item, one food, one genre of music and one animal. 

The item is a hair comb. A comb is called "kushi" in Japanese. "Kushi" is also the word for skewer in Japanese, and that is the food marked on this day. You can see a collection of skewered food in the featured photo above. 

Skewing the pronunciation even further, the Japan Music Managers Association, chose this date for classical music day. In Japanese classical is pronounced kurashikku.  Finally, the animal celebrated on September 4th is the whale. Whale in Japanese is "kujira". The number 4 can also be pronounced "ji". 

Comb Day, Skewer Day, Classical Music Day and Whale Day are all registered to the Japan Anniversary Association for September 4th annually.