Hina Matsuri

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March 3rd was Girl’s Day in Japan. On this day families with young daughters celebrate this event at home to ensure their daughter's future happiness by putting up intricate doll displays. Utazu has a Hina Matsuri (Doll’s Festival) every year in celebration. Many houses and temples in the older part of town have their intricate displays open to the public. My co-worker took me there on March 2nd. We wondered the streets admiring various displays. There were a few vendors in the streets selling various things to eat and drink. We stopped for some free macha (green tea) at a temple and bought some delicious fried octopus from a street vendor. We also stopped at an elegant Buddhist temple called Shotokuin and paid to enjoy a graceful tea ceremony. Shotokuin also housed a set of dolls from the Edo period. (That means that the dolls were over 100 years old.) The part of Utazu we were wondering around has many temples. Some of them seemed quite impressive, but I didn’t have the time to explore them. Our last stop on the way out was another temple that I believe was called Sankakutei. It housed a sort of Hina museum. There I learned that the displays follow certain rules. On the top level in the Hime-sama (princess) and her lord she is marrying. Below them are three servants often dressed up as miko (priestess). The next level down has five musicians and the final tier of dolls is made up of three guards. There is also various other chests, tables and food that goes into making a complete set. It was definitely an enjoyable and educational experience.

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Photos

Flower arrangement
One housed featured decorations made by a professional flower arranger.

Antique Dolls
Displayed on the house decorated with flowers

Shotokuin
This cute sleeping buddha was lying on a bench in front of traditional buddhist graves.

An interesting statue at Shotokuin
This is a statue of Kannon. The 1,000 armed god.

Princess for a Day =P
Honestly, this display looks more French than Japanese to me.

Comments

[kate]

man i wish i was there
That is so cool. I love festivals like that. I guess I will have to make do living vicariously through you.

[vls]

Makes me want to pack a suitcase NOW!