Yanagawa Hinamatsuri

Last Sunday I adventured to Yanagawa City, South of Momochi (where I live). It took about an hour to travel there. Today there was a doll festival, it is pretty famous. There was a lot of tradition involved, but I was clueless. But I learned that this was a day to pray for young girls growth and happiness.

The first thing I came across were the tiny dolls. They are ornamental dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period. These little things were everywhere, I wanted one for myself.


Dolls in the bamboo shoots were pretty popular too. I couldn't find anything online about this, but it may signify the tradition of putting the dolls out to sea in a bamboo boat.


Every shop I went into had their own arrangement of dolls. They are usually arranged on a five or seven-tiered stand covered with a red carpet. At the top are the Emperor and Empress. The next step contains three court ladies, followed by five musicians, two ministers, and three servants ending the bottom row in a five-tiered display. There are also small pieces of furniture, small meal dishes, and other things.


There were also a lot of decorations, the one you would see the most were the ones hanging with different things on them. An old Japanese custom is to decorate both sides of a tiered stands that displays henna dolls.


Yanagawa City if full of canals, so the festival was along a couple of the canals. Everything was so beautiful! I like Japanese festivals.


The Emporer and Empress walking around.