Doll Festival

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Hina Doll Festival (hina matsuri)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Mid-Spring
***** Category: Observance

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Explanation

March 3 (the double three date)

There are many kigo related to the customs of this important festival. Let us look at some of them.

hina matsuri,　雛祭り、ひなまつり

playing with dolls, hina asobi　雛遊び
hina dolls, hina ningyoo 雛人形
Emperor Dolls, dairibina　内裏雛
Court Lady Dolls, kanjobina　官女雛
"five musicians", gonin bayashi 五人囃（ごにんばやし）
Minister Doll, yadaijin 矢大臣（やだいじん）
sannin shichoo 三人使丁（さんにんしちょう）

dolls on the shelf, hinadan　雛壇
dolls made from wood, kibori bina 木彫雛
dolls made from paper, kami bina 紙雛



dolls from the Muromachi period, muromachibina
室町雛（むろまちびな）

dolls form the Kanei period, kanei bina
寛永雛（かんえいびな）



dolls from the Genrokuk period, genroku bina
元禄雛（げんろくびな）






dolls from the Kyooho period, kyooho
享保雛（きょうほびな）



hina dolls from Kyoto, kyoobina 京雛（きょうびな）

standing dolls, tachibina 立雛

first dolls for a girl, hatsu bina 初雛
old dolls, furubina 古雛
dolls given away, yuzuri　bina　譲り雛

room with the doll shelf, hina no ma　雛の間
home with a doll shelf, hina no yado 雛の宿
food tray for the dolls, hina no zen　雛の膳
feasting with the dolls, hina no en 雛の宴
ricewine for the dolls, hina no sake　雛の酒
peach ricewine, momo no sake　桃の酒　

sweets for the Doll festival, hina arare 雛あられ

More sweets for the Doll festival and sweet white rice wine
Shirazake 白酒 (しろざけ), hishi mochi 菱餅 (ひしもち)


market selling dolls, hina ichi 雛市

packing the dolls away, hina osame　雛収め
After the festival on the third of March, the dolls are packed away again for another year. They have special boxes to store them.
In some areas of Japan, it is the custom to float old hina dolls in a boat after the festival (hina nagashi 雛流し, hina okuri　雛送り、 nagashibina 流し雛).



The dolls are placed in a small ship or round basked made of straw.

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box for the hina dolls, hiba bako 雛箱（ひなばこ）
..... hina no hitsu 雛の櫃（ひなのひつ）
..... hina tsuzura 雛葛籠（ひなつづら）

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Peach Blossom Festival, momo no sekku
桃の節句 (もものせっく)
..... tooka no setsu 桃花の節（とうかのせつ）

March Seasonal Festival, sangatsu sekku
三月節句（さんがつせっく）
..... yayoi no sekku 弥生の節句（やよいのせっく）

Hina Doll seasonal festival, hina no sekku
雛の節句（ひなのせっく）

"peach day", momo no hi 桃の日（もものひ）


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Doll Festival, Peach Festival or Girl's Festival.

People pray for the happiness and healthy growth of girls and families with young daughters set up a display of dolls inside the house.The tradition goes back to the Edo Period (1603-1868).The dolls wear costumes of the imperial court during the Heian period (794-1192) and are placed on a platform with various tiers of five to seven layers.



The top tier is for the Emperor and Empress. A miniature gilded folding screen is placed behind them as it was in the real court. The second tear has three ladies-in-waiting. The third has five male court musicians; the fourth has ministers sitting on either side of trays of food; the fifth has guards with an orange tree on the left and a cherry tree on the right.

The family celebrates with a special meal of diamond-shaped rick cakes and shirozake which is rice malt with sake.The dolls are returned to their storage space after the festival is over since there is a superstition that families that are slow in putting the dolls away will have difficulty in marrying off their daughters.

© Dark Chide

Check the KIGO for March in Japan

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Daruma with his Missus as Hina Dolls



Made of Chocolate

© Gabi Greve

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In our Library:

The Hina Matsuri, by Alan Plate

Antique Japanese Festival Dolls, by Timothy Mertel

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Ishii Rogetsu (1873-1928) and some Doll Festival Haiku
by Susumu Takiguchi

I do not have the time to find out when Rogetsu wrote this haiku but somehow I cannot help thinking that it has something to do with a series of tragedy whereby Rogetsu lost his daughters and son either as a child or a young person. When he was 35 years old he wrote a haiku on the same hina theme for his eldest daughter who was only three:

hina mo nashi nanji o momo no hana no kao

no hina dolls;
you are the flower face
of peach blossom

Read more in the World Haiku Review 2002

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The Doll Festival at the Temple Hookyoo-Ji
(Hokyo-Ji, Hokyoji) in Kyoto 　宝鏡寺の雛祭り



The main event is the graceful dance of a maiden, accompanied by traditional music with old instruments.
This temple is famous for its dolls, even called the "Doll Temple". It is also the first of the five great Nunneries in Kyoto, with strong ancient bonds to the Emperor and his family.

In Kyoto many families celebratethe Doll Festival on the 3rd of April according to the old lunar calendar. It might be in this season, because the peaches are blossoming at that time.

Speaking about Hina festival, as expected one refers to the Hina dolls. There is a doll exhibition of valuable Hina dolls and Gosho dolls, held at Hokyoji in Teranouchi at Kamigyo ward, spanning nearly 1 month, related to the Girls Festival. There is a memorial service in the temple precincts, dedicated to the important dolls and the following poem by Saneatsu Mushanokoji is carved on the doll mound:

'Nobody knows who made the doll
or who loved the doll,
but by loving
you enter the true Nirvana.'



This doll mound gives an apropriate elegance to this gentle event and to this temple, also called the Doll temple.
http://www.city.kyoto.jp/koho/eng/preview/48.html


Twice a year, in spring and fall, this temple has a doll festival. This spring the festival runs from March 1 to April 3, and on the first day there will be a doll festival and Japanese dancing.



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Hina Doll Festival at the Temple Hokkei-Ji, Nara

「雛会式（法華寺）Hina Eshiki Ceremony, small dolls' rites
Hina Kaishiki
From the first to the seventh of April.
This ceremony dates back to the Heian period. It had been visited by the many ladies-in-waiting of the court quarters. It is related to rites of the Kegon Sutra 華厳経.

Look at many photos of this famous temple
http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~kotonara/hokkejinoohanasi.htm
http://www.taleofgenji.org/hokkeji.html

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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

草の戸も住替る代ぞひなの家
kusa no to mo sumikawaru yo zo hina no ie

this old thatched hut
will change inhabitants now -
a home with dolls

(Tr. Gabi Greve)

Matsuo Basho, at the start of his long Journey to the North of Japan, Oku no Hosomichi


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妹が家も田舎雛ではなかりけり
imo ga ya mo inaka hina de wa nakari keri

in my lover's house
not one provincial doll
on Doll's Day

Read more : Doll Festival, Haiku by Kobayashi Issa (Tr. David Lanoue)


inarande Daruma mo hina no nakama kana


lined up too
among the dolls...
Dharma
(Haiga by Nakamura Sakuo)

Issa and more Daruma Haiku

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Related words

***** WKD World Kigo Database: March


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WASHOKU ... Japanese Food SAIJIKI

Back to the Worldkigo Index
http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/

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