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Girl's Day in Japan
 Sometime during the long Japanese Edo period (1600-1868) households
with young girls began to set out attractive displays of dolls around the middle
of February. The dolls were usually kept on display until March 3rd which
eventually came to be known as "Girls Day" or hina matsuri as it is
called in Japanese. This special day is also sometimes referred to as
momo no sekku which means "Festival of the Peach" due to the fact that
beautiful pink peach blossoms are often placed among the dolls on display.
Girl's Day dolls are nearly always seen wearing the courtly robes of Heian
period (794-1185) nobility. And the dolls are frequently arranged on
platforms consisting of between 5 and 7 tiers covered with red felt.
Though single-tier displays consisting of one male and one female doll are also
quite common (especially in cramped modern apartments).
 Young Japanese girls (such as our little Emily) often enjoy
spending hours assembling and arranging their dolls and accessories according to
very old rules of display (Internet websites help many modern Japanese parents
learn the rules). However, though the dolls may remain on display for many
weeks leading up to March 3rd, tradition holds that the dolls must be put away
promptly after this date in order to ensure a young girl's future happiness with
a home and family of her own. A similar holiday for boys is the May 5th celebration of Boy's Day. In
recent times, Boy's Day has come to be known as "Children's Day."
Please click
here to see our catalogue of new
and vintage girls day dolls and doll
sets.
Hina Matsuri Ningyo Gallery:
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