Girls' Day in Japan

I'm actually a day late by the Japanese calendar but maybe it is still March 3rd in other parts of the world.  March 3rd is Girls' Day in Japan and Girls' Day dolls are out in abundance!

It used to be that whenever a baby girl was born, the grandparents would make sure that the new baby had a set of dolls to be put out on display.  Not played with!  Displayed!  The dolls depict the Emperor and Empress and their royal court and they are complete with servants and guardsmen and ladies in waiting and they all sit on tiers.

In recent years though as houses are small and earlier generations already have doll sets, it doesn't seem to be the custom to buy a new baby Hina dolls, as they are called, and instead, hanging Hina dolls have come into popularity.  The hanging dolls are rather easier to store as well as display and many times the hanging dolls are handmade and one or two are added each year or so.  See Queenie's blog post about the hanging Hina dolls that she has made!

Last week Tetsu and I went to a neighboring town to check out their Hina Festival with a walking map of the town and some 60 shops that had Hina dolls on display.  It is a nice way to get shoppers into the area from out of town, to entice visitors to go into shops they might never step into, and various booths sell ice cream or drinks along the roadside.  At least that was supposed to be the plan!  Because of the Corona virus precautions, the food booths were gone, the visitors were few and far between and the main events such as Japanese drum exhibition and kimono dressing were all cancelled.  Tetsu and I got to maybe 10 of the shops but sorry to say, after you see one display of Hina dolls, they all begin to look alike.

We tried to take photos of a variety of dolls.

This is a traditional set of dolls with the Emperor and Empress on top, the ladies in waiting on the next tier, the musicians, the guards, and then the helpers.  The bottom tiers hold trunks, and tea ceremony implements, palanquin, etc.

And look at this display!  That's a lot of dolls!  Probably someone has collected doll sets that have been given up by their families.  Dolls are rather hard to throw out and if they can be shown in a display like this everyone benefits.

 And then there are small dolls that can be displayed in their box and set on a table.

One set of emperor and empress dolls wearing layers and layers of kimono.

(photo from the Internet)

And here are the actual Japanese Emperor and Empress!  (but I think this photo was taken when the Emperor was still the crown prince...)

(photo from the Internet)

But this is from the most recent ceremony from last October complete with ladies in waiting.  Of course the Emperor and Empress don't go around like this usually but for ceremonies they often are dressed in traditional garb.

Back to Hina dolls.

Here is a sample of the hanging Hina dolls.  Different stuffed dolls, each of which have some meaning, are threaded and hung.

This was a cute hanging doll display with little rabbits interspersed through fabric wisteria boughs. 

This is an artform called Kimekomi where Japanese crinkly fabric is pressed into a soft wooden base.

These are also Kimekomi Dolls and though the kimono part is made of fabric pressed into the wood base, the heads are porcelain.

Besides dolls, many decorations are made with the crinkly Japanese cloth and I found some pretty hand made flowers.  Hmm.  Those might be doable...

 But dear me!  A chrysanthemum would be harder to make than it would be to spell!

I'm not sure what this artform is called but it is similar to the padding of fabric pieces which are arranged on a Hagoita, a Japanese paddleboard game.  The art has evolved to make figures with more depth than just a collage.  I liked this picture because it depicts a mouse bride leaving her family to go to her wedding...  It is the year of the mouse this year and the year of Takumi and Julieta's wedding for me!

And this interesting madam is called an "Ugly doll"  Ugly dolls have become popular in recent years.  I think the story is that the ugly daughter of a wealthy home is going to catch a husband by putting all her wealth on display thus the bangles and baubles on her ankles and the manicured fingers and toes.  She has personality!

These are the dolls I put out around my house this year.

Actually I think this is a tiny art project that the convalescent home workers made one year when Tetsu was still working.  Milk cartons cut into circles and covered with Japanese paper and then a styrofoam ball with some black paper on top stuck into a toothpick and stabbed through.  The dolls rock when touched.

One year I learned how to make origami Hina dolls made from three layers of colored paper and a black cut out for the hair.  They aren't considered true origami because to make the hair part scissors are used but they are very small and quite pretty.  I wonder if I still know how to make them.

 I had made another set and glued them to a post card. 

And this is our pottery Hina doll plate...  the cats are actually wearing tiny crowns which makes them Emperor and Empress cats though maybe I can have the out anytime as the crowns are so inconspicuous...

And now all the dolls have to be quickly put away because leaving them out after March 3rd threatens the daughter of the house's chances of getting married!  I don't have to worry about that as Leiya is already married!  Hah!  Maybe I'll leave my dolls out for all of March!