Hinamatsuri

Hinamatsuri
, also called Doll's Day or Girls' Day, is a religious (Shinto) holiday in Japan, celebrated on 3March of each year. Platforms covered with a red carpet–material are used to display a set of representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period.
Customs
is one of the that are held on auspicious dates of the Chinese calendar: the first day of the first month, the third day of the third month, and so on. After the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, these were fixed on 1January, 3March, 5May, 7July, and 9September. The festival was traditionally known as the , as peach trees typically began to flower around this time. Although this is no longer true since the shift to Gregorian dates, the name remains and peaches are still symbolic of the festival.
The primary aspect of is the display of seated male and female dolls (the and ), which represent a Heian period wedding, but are usually described as the Emperor and Empress of Japan. The dolls are usually seated on red cloth, and may be as simple as pictures or folded paper dolls, or as intricate as carved three-dimensional dolls. More elaborate displays will include a multi-tiered of dolls that represent ladies of the court, musicians, and other attendants, with all sorts of accoutrements. The entire set of dolls and accessories is called the . The number of tiers and dolls a family may have depends on their budget.
Families normally ensure that girls have a set of the two main dolls before their first Hinamatsuri. The dolls are usually fairly expensive ($1,500 to $2,500 for a five-tier set, depending on quality) and may be handed down from older generations as heirlooms. The spends most of the year in storage, and girls and their mothers begin setting up the display a few days before 3March (boys normally do not participate, as 5May, now Children's Day, was historically called "Boys' Day"). Traditionally, the dolls were supposed to be put away by the day after , the superstition being that leaving the dolls any longer will result in a late marriage for the daughter, but some families may leave them up for the entire month of March. Practically speaking, the encouragement to put everything away quickly is to avoid the rainy season and humidity that typically follows .
Historically, the dolls were used as toys, but in modern times they are intended for display only. The display of dolls is usually discontinued when the girls reach ten years of age.
During and the preceding days, girls hold parties with their friends. Typical foods include and . The customary drink is , also called , a non-alcoholic sake.
ceremonies are held around the country, where participants make dolls out of paper or straw and send them on a boat down a river, carrying one's impurities and sin with them. Some locations, such as at the Nagashibina Doll Museum in Tottori City, still follow the lunisolar calendar instead of doing it on 3March.
, traditional decoration for Hinamatsuri, are lengths of coloured cords (usually in red), usually featuring decorations of miniature baby-dolls, which were originally made from leftover kimono silk (so the idea of repurposing fabric scraps is central to this craft; it is a great activity for using up leftover materials). Tsurushi-Bina are not limited to featuring miniature baby-dolls, but also flowers (i.e., camellia flower, etc.), shells, Temari balls, colourful triangles to represent mountains (such as Mount Fuji, etc.), etc., and with tassels at the bottom.
Placement
The actual placement order of the dolls from left to right varies according to family tradition and location, but the order of dolls per level is the same. The layer of covering is called or simply , a red carpet with rainbow stripes at the bottom. The description that follows is for a complete set.
First, top platform
The top tier holds two dolls, known as . The words dairi means "imperial palace". These are the obina holding a and mebina holding a fan. The pair are also known as and (lord and princess) or and (honored palace official and honored doll). Although they are sometimes referred to as the Emperor and Empress, they only represent the positions and not particular individuals themselves (with the exception of some dolls from the Meiji Era that actually depict Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken). The two are usually placed in front of a gold folding screen and placed beside green Japanese garden trees.
Optional are the two lampstands, called , and the paper or silk lanterns that are known as , which are usually decorated with cherry or plum blossom patterns.
Complete sets would include accessories placed between the two figures, known as , composing of two vases of artificial .
Generally speaking, the Kansai style arrangement has the male on the right, while Kantō style arrangements have him on the left (from the viewer's perspective).
Second platform
The second tier holds three court ladies who serve sake to the male and female dolls. Commonly, two dolls are standing on both sides of one seated doll, but there are people who use two seated dolls on both sides of one standing doll.
The doll on the viewer's left bears a . The one on the viewer's right holds a . The doll in the middle carries different items in Kyoto compared with the rest of Japan. In Kyoto, the middle doll carries a upon which is something auspicious such as ; whereas in the rest of Japan, she carries a upon which a sake cup is rested.
Accessories placed between the ladies are , stands with round table-tops for seasonal sweets, excluding hishi mochi.
Third platform
The third tier holds five male musicians . Each holds a musical instrument except the singer, who holds a fan:
, seated standing standing or , seated holding a , standing.
There are ancient sets with seven or ten musicians and at least one with female musicians.
Fourth platform
Two may be displayed on the fourth tier. These may be the emperor's bodyguards or administrators in Kyoto: the and the . Both are sometimes equipped with bows and arrows. When representing the ministers, the Minister of the Right is depicted as a young person, while the Minister of the Left is older because that position was the more senior of the two. Also, because the dolls are placed in positions relative to each other, the Minister of the Right will be on "stage right" (the viewer's left) and the Minister of the Left will be on the other side.
Between the two figures are covered , also referred to as , as well as bearing diamond-shaped hishi mochi.
Just below the ministers: on the rightmost, a , and on the leftmost, a .
Fifth platform
The fifth tier, between the plants, holds three or of the Emperor and Empress:
In the Kyōto style, from the viewer's left to right the dolls are:
Crying drinker bearing a ,
Angry drinker bearing a , and
Laughing drinker bearing a
In the Kantō style used in the rest of Japan, from the viewer's left to right the dolls are:
Angry drinker bearing an at the end of a pole,
Crying drinker bearing a , and
Laughing drinker bearing an
Other platforms
On the sixth and seventh tiers, various miniature furniture, tools, carriages, etc., are displayed.
Sixth platform
These are items used within the palatial residence.
: chest of (usually five) drawers, sometimes with swinging outer covering doors.
: long chest for kimono storage.
: smaller clothing storage box, placed on top of nagamochi.
: literally mirror stand, a smaller chest of drawers with a mirror on top.
: sewing kit box.
two : braziers.
: a set of or , utensils for the tea ceremony.
Seventh, bottom platform
These are items used when away from the palatial residence.
, a set of nested lacquered food boxes with either a cord tied vertically around the boxes or a stiff handle that locks them together.
, a palanquin.
, an ox-drawn carriage favored by Heian nobility. This last is sometimes known as .
Less common an ox drawing a cart of flowers.
Origin
It is said that the first time Hina dolls were shown in the manner they are now as part of the Peach Festival was when the young princess Meisho succeeded to the throne of her abdicating father, Emperor Go-Mizunoo, in 1629. Because female emperors in Japan at the time were not allowed to get married, Meisho's mother, Tokugawa Masako, created a doll arrangement showing Meisho blissfully wedded. Hinamatsuri then officially became the name of the festival in 1687. Doll-makers began making elaborate dolls for the festival (some growing as tall as high before laws were passed restricting their size). Over time, the hinakazari evolved to include fifteen dolls and accessories. As dolls became more expensive, tiers were added to the hinadan so that the expensive ones could be placed out of the reach of young children.
During the Meiji period as Japan began to modernize and the emperor was restored to power, Hinamatsuri was deprecated in favor of new holidays that focused on the emperor's supposed to bond with the nation, but it was revived. By focusing on marriage and families, it represented Japanese hopes and values. The dolls were said to represent the emperor and empress; they also fostered respect for the throne. The holiday then spread to other countries via the Japanese diaspora, although it remains confined to Japanese immigrant communities and descendants.
See also
Golu – a similar tradition in India
Hōko (doll) – A talisman doll, given to young women of age and especially to pregnant women in Japan to protect both mother and unborn child.
International Day of the Girl Child
International Women's Day
Japanese festivals
Japanese dolls
Japanese traditional dolls
Karakuri puppet – Japanese clockwork automata.
Public holidays in Japan
Tango no Sekku
Yurihonjo hinakaido – an annual trail of hina doll displays in Yurihonjo City
References
Further reading
Ishii, Minako (2007). Girls' Day/Boys' Day. Honolulu: Bess Press Inc. . A children's picture book.
Murguia, Salvador Jimenez (2011). "Hinamatsuri and the Japanese Female: A Critical Interpretation of the Japanese Doll Festival". Journal of Asia Pacific Studies 2.2: 231–247
Pate, Alan Scott (2013). Ningyo: The Art of the Japanese Doll. Tuttle Publishing.
External links
Hinamatsuri (Doll's Festival)
Hinamatsuri in Sado, Niigata, Japan (Doll's Festival)
Video on Hinamatsuri (Hinamatsuri Girls' Day | Doll's Festival)
Festivals in Japan
Japanese dolls
March observances
Shinto festivals
Articles containing video clips
Women's festivals