JAPANESE CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS

The Dolls’ Festival is a Special Day to Celebrate Girls

The Hinamatsuri Festival and courtly doll displays

Empress doll. (Pixabay. No attribution required.)

Hinamatsuri, or the Dolls’ Festival, held on March 3, is a Japanese day of celebration for girls in which elaborate sets of courtly dolls are displayed in all homes with daughters and in various public places.

This celebration dates back over 1,000 years to the Heian era (794–1185), when aristocratic children played with paper and straw dolls. Later, during the more than two centuries of peace during the Edo era (1603–1867), these simple paper and straw dolls transformed into the elaborate and beautiful Hina dolls we see today. These dolls embodied the Edo era people’s image of the elegance and refinement of the Heian imperial court.

Hina doll sets originally contained only one male and one female, a Heian Era emperor and empress. As the years passed, the number of dolls increased to include a complete royal retinue with all their accouterments.

Typical, traditional Hina doll set. (©Diane Tincher)

Hina dolls and their furnishings are very costly works of fine craftsmanship. Just one doll can take up…