The Hina Matsuri

Do you remember my Japanese lesson all those months ago?  What does matsuri mean...? Very good!  That's right! "Festival!" (:  (Yeah, I'm humoring you AND me...)  And hina refers to these lovely dolls you see in the picture.  On March 3rd, Japanese families celebrate their daughters and pray for their happiness and success in life (and marriage). The group of dolls represent a wedding party, with a lord and his new bride at the top and many different kinds of servants on the other tiers.  On the fifth, you can see a mikan (orange) tree on the left and an ume (plum) tree on the right--check out my Hanami page for the real thing!  On the sixth tier, you can see REAL laquerware--miniature furniture for the new couple to use in their new home.  And the last tier there are two small 'man-drawn' carriages and a traditional-style stackable lunchbox.  They were really amazing!

Here is a detail of the bride and groom dolls.  They were so detailed and delicate-looking!  It's hard to believe they get packed up in boxes and stashed away every year! This is at Sugimoto-sensei's house.  He has a 25-year-old daughter, and has been setting this up since they moved into this house (I think he said about 23 years ago).  The dolls used to belong to his wife, but when she had a little girl, the new baby's grandparents gave the dolls to her.  So they are at least 25 years old... older, I'm sure.  The whole display was as tall as the room, and about 5 feet wide.  Sugimoto-sensei said it took several hours to set the whole thing up!

Here's a detail of the laquerware.  It was really gorgeous, and hard to believe someone spent so much time on things that were for dolls! In the corner, you can see a little bag of rice-candy.  I saw these in lots of stores around the end of February.  I guess it's a bit of an offering to the gods, praying for their daughter.

Here's one last shot of the entire thing.  You can see how it's as tall as this room!  On the floor, to the right is another doll.  Sugimoto-sensei said that this was the first doll they got for their daughter, since they first lived in an apartment when she was born and didn't have room for the big display! (:

"Thank you!" to the Sugimoto's for teaching me about the Hina Matsuri!!

Let's go HOME, Angry Bison!