Japanese Doll
Festival
Hinamatsuri, the Japanese Doll Festival, better known as Girls' Day
is celebrated on the third day of the third month, March 3rd. This
is the day when families pray for the happiness and prosperity of
their daughters and to help ensure that they grow up healthy and
beautiful.Taking place either at home or at the seashore (or both),
the family sets up platforms with red cloth (
hi-mosen) which
is used to display a set of ornamental dolls
(
hina-ningyo).
The dolls on this stair-like display represent the Emperor,
Empress, attendants, and musicians in their traditional dresses of
Heian period.
What is the Japanese ornamental doll display
about?
These platforms usually have traditional designated areas for each
of the fifteen dolls.
The First Tier
On the first tier sits the Emperor doll (
Obina) and the
Empress doll (
Mebina). The two intricate dolls are commonly
placed in front of a miniature golden folding screen, in a similar
way that the real screen would be placed behind the Emperor and
Empress in traditional court.
The Empress wears Juni-Hitoe, a very intricate kimono with twelve
layers of fabric and design. Today, this intricate style of kimono
is now used mostly in royal wedding ceremonies.In the next tier,
there are three court ladies, each of which are the sake holders
who have specific roles. Sanpou, usually the middle one, sits when
others stand or the reverse. The other two sake holders are known
as Nagae no choushi and Kuwae no choushi.
The Second Tier
The following tier holds the five musicians; the Taiko (
the
small drummer), Ookawa (
large hand drummer), Kozutsumi
(
hand drummer), Fue (
one who plays the flute), and
the Utaikata (
the singer who usually holds a fan, known as
Sensu).
The Third / Final Tier
The final tier has only two dolls, the ministers. The one on the
left was considered wiser than the one to the right and is usually
portrayed by a doll with a long white beard. On either side of
these ministers are trays of food. Although, an alternation of this
doll setting exists where this pier is dedicated to the two
guardians or Samurai, both of which hold weapons. Usually, this
final pier has three other servants, but other than that, the rest
of platform has many miniature furniture like tables, plants such
as the orange tree and the cherry tree, rice and other various
foods.
The origins of the
hinamatsuri - Japanese Doll Festival
The exact origin of this festival isn't certain, but what is
certain is that this activity became a holiday during the Edo
period (
1603-1867) and was popularized as a girls' festival,
Hinamatsuri. One popular route to this festival was that the origin
was derived from the ancient Chinese festival where agricultural
areas followed up on the same superstition that if they built a
doll out-of straw and let it float down a river, the doll would
shield them from bad luck and illness, taking all mischief with
it.
Another explanation comes from the Shinto priests. In the ancient
times, March 3rd was the purification day in Shinto religion.
During which, a folded paper doll, resembling a kimono, known as a
Kata Shiro would be cast away into water or burned, with it the
user's sins, illness, bad luck, and all other negative events, this
was originally known as Hina-nagashi. This day is also known as
Momo no sekku (
Peach Festival) due to the peach blossom
season on the old lunar calendar.
Hinamatsuri used to be one of the only occasions when little girls
had their own parties. Most families bring out the set during
mid-February and put it away as soon as possible after Hinamatsuri
because of a superstition that declares that
if the set is not
put away by the night of March 4th the girl will have trouble
marrying.
A girl's first Hinamatsuri is known as a
Hatzu-zekku and it has become quite popular
for grandparents to buy them their first basic set. Although, not
many parents can afford a brand new full set, so the mother passes
down her set to her daughter(s).
Furthermore, with the expensive prices and small living spaces in
most Japanese apartments, it has become acceptable and customary
for parents to present their girls with only Emperor and Empress
pieces at first, leaving other pieces to be added over the
years.
A full set is commonly passed down and the dolls are very special;
at times old country families might preserve their sets for
decades, which is ironic since originally these dolls were meant to
be destroyed for the good of the owner.
