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"Hina
doll" to be displayed at "Hinamatsuri |
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At the
turning point of each season, various annual events have
been held in Japan from old times. Children learn a lot of
things naturally through those events, such as Oshogatsu
(New Year), Setsubun (the day before the beginning of spring),
Hinamatsuri (the doll festival for girls,) Tango-no-Sekku
(the boys’ festival,) Summer festival, Bon festival,
Moonlight party, Harvest festival, etc. For instance, they
learn a change of seasons, and they can also learn various
things such as moderate lifestyle, relation with the local
community, mind that values their ancestors, and family love. |
“Hinamatsuri, the doll festival for girls” is
a typical traditional event of Japan that has continued
since very early times, among the numerous annual events
such as above described. The history of Hinamatsuri started
long, long time ago, around the middle of the Heian era
(about 1,000 years ago.) People of that era used to perform
a ritual of purification, wishing good health, on the
day of Mi (snake) at the beginning of March. They pray
to the god in the universe, offering foods, entrusting
misfortune and unlucky affairs to dolls, and throwing
the dolls into a river or the sea, by inviting Onmyoji
(the person who tells the fortune regarding astronomy,
geographical features, and human beings). This custom
still leaves its image in the event of "Nagashi-Bina," in
which paper dolls are floated down rivers to wash away
bad luck, in various parts of the local community, even
now.
Also, around the same time, a play called "Hiina Asobi" was done among
women and children in the court. It is the one to play with paper dolls and toys
that mimics goods for daily use, and is the one like a "playing house" today.
The descriptions of Hina Asobi can be seen in Murasaki Shikibu's "The Tale
of Genji" and Seisho Nagon's "Makura-no-Soshi".
And, it is the origin of the present 'Hinamatsuri' that has settled as “Jomi-no-Sekku,” with
this purification for good health and “Hiina Asobi” being mixed together. “Jomi” means
the first day of Mi in March, and “Jomi-no-Sekku” has settled to
be on March 3 in the Muromachi era. And, during the peaceful era of Edo, “Jomi-no-Sekku" has
come to be performed very actively as a festival for girls. Since the Hinamatsuri
of those days used to be held on March 3 of lunar calendar, it was around the
beginning of April in present age. It was the season when peaches were in full
bloom, mugworts also extended its buds, and clams also became delicious. The
festival has taken root in the daily life as a seasonal event that was joyous
above anything else for women who were working without a rest every day, and
as a festival for women. |
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in around the middle of Edo era, an event of “Hatsu-Sekku
(the first girls’ festival)” that celebrated
a girl's birth came to be held grandly, and Hinamatsuri
came to be passed on to the present as a graceful event
peculiar to Japan. It is the Hinamatsuri, with which people
can check the growth of their daughters who grow up comfortably,
and in which people spend the day happily, once a year.
It should be people’s wish to value this beautiful
traditional event of Japan that started long time ago in
the Heian era, has been cultivated in a long history, and
has continued till today, for a long time to come. Families
with girls display "Hina doll" in their homes
at "Hinamatsuri.” Hina doll is an art born from
the traditional culture of Hinamatsuri that people should
be proud of toward the world, and which is peculiar to
Japan. About "Hina doll," please see the page
of “’Hina doll’ originated from Hinamatsuri.” |
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