Girls' Day (other)

, also called Doll's Day or Girls' Day, is a religious (Shinto) holiday in Japan, celebrated on 3March of each year. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005)
"Hina Matsuri"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 313. 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 old.

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.

An old tradition now forgotten is that during the ''Chōyō no Sekku'' the dolls are brought out again to air, making it a ''Hinamatsuri'' for adults.

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.

File:Me-bina-ETHAS 020104-P8190705-gradient.jpg, 18th-century , Empress doll, on display at Musée d'ethnographie de Genève
File:O-bina-ETHAS 020105-P8190707-gradient.jpg, 18th century , Emperor doll, on display at Musée d'ethnographie de Genève
File:Hinamatsuri store display.jpg, store display in Seattle, Washington featuring all 7 tiers.
File:HinaDolls-Emperor-Empress-topplatform2011.jpg, An Emperor doll with an Empress doll, in front of a gold screen. The optional lampstands are also partially visible.
File:Hinamatsuridolls2010.ogv, thumbtime=7, (video) A five platform doll set.
File:Kanzo-Yashiki_Tsurushibina.A.JPG, is a variation of the traditional dolls (Kanzo-Yashiki, Kōshū, Yamanashi Prefecture).

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 the actual individuals themselves (with the exception of some dolls from the Meiji period 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. Two of them are standing with serving utensils, one with a and the other with a . The , placed in the middle, holds a small table and maybe standing or sitting/ kneeling.

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:
# Crying drinker ,
# Angry drinker , and
# Laughing drinker

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

The earliest record of displaying the dolls as part of the Peach Festival comes from 1625, for Emperor Go-Mizunoo's daughter Oki-ko. Imperial court ladies set up equipment for her to engage in . After Oki-ko succeeded her father as the Empress Meishō, Hinamatsuri legally became the holiday's name in 1687. Doll-makers began making elaborate dolls for the festival (some growing as tall as 3 feet (1 meter) high before laws were passed restricting their size). Over time, the ''hinazakari'' 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
* 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 in Sado, Niigata, Japan (Doll's Festival)

Video on Hinamatsuri (Hinamatsuri Girls' Day , Doll's Festival)

{{authority control

Festivals in Japan
Japanese dolls
March observances
Shinto festivals
Articles containing video clips