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| Culture > Hinamatsuri 1 2 3 4 |
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| Sandan |
| The third tier contains the five court musicians, called gonin bayashi (gonin means "five people," bayashi means "orchestra") of the hinaningyou set, as follows: a drummer, Taiko; a drummer who is standing with a hand drum, Ookawa; another drummer who is standing, but has his drum over his shoulder, Kotsuzumi; a flute player, Fue; and a singer, Uta. |
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| Yondan |
| The two ministers, called zuishin, are displayed on the fourth tier, the Minister of the Left, or Sadaijin, and the Minister of the Right, or Udaijin. In the ancient Japanese royal court, the Udaijin was considered superior to the Sadaijin, so a wise elderly man was often chosen for the position. Both ministers carry bows and arrows. Like the second tier, an offering of food is placed on the fifth tier, but instead of rice crackers, diamond-shaped rice cakes called hishimochi are offered. We will have more on the traditional foods of the festival later on. Dinner trays are also placed in the middle of the tier. |
| Godan |
| The fifth tier displays the two guards of the imperial court, called eji, and the attendant, or shicho. Also displayed on this tier are two special flower decorations: on the left (from the viewpoint of someone standing in front of the display) are ukon-no-sakura (righthand-side cherry tree)(ukon implies the right side, from the viewpoint of the emperor in this case); the right side of the fifth tier (from the viewer's perspective) contains mikan no hana (blossoms of the mandarin orange), sometimes referred to as sakon-no-tachibana (sakon implies the left side, from the emperor's perspective). However, since Hinamatsuri is also called momo-no-sekku (Peach Festival), the cherry blossoms are often replaced with momo-no-hana (peach blossoms). |
| Rokudan and Nanadan |
| The last two tiers, the sixth and seventh, contain the various items of furniture that the imperial court travels with. Some of the items are sometimes placed on other tiers. For those who want specifics, these are the most common pieces of furniture displayed: tansu chest of drawers nagamochi small chest ochadougu Japanese tea ceremony set (the tea ceremony is called sadou) kyoudai dresser haribako sewing kit or box hibachi brazier (there are two in the actual display) kago palanquin juubako a set or tier of lacquered boxes used for food gissha an oxcart for Heian era nobles Also sometimes displayed are a toilet stand, a mirror, and a Go board. |
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| Taiko Ookawa Kotsuzumi Fue Uta Udaijin Sadaijin hishimochi dinner trays eji shicho |
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| ukon-no-sakura sakon-no-tachibana (mikan-no-hana) tansu nagamochi kyoudai haribako hibachi ochadougu juubako gissha |
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| Culture > Hinamatsuri 1 2 3 4 |