Platforms covered with a red carpet are used to display the set of ornamental dolls called (雛人形 hina-ningyō) which represent the Emperor, Empress and other court attendants in traditional court dress of the Heian period in Japan. The dolls are usually displayed on a five or seven tired stand with the Emperor and Empress at the top. The next step contains three court ladies (sannin-kanjo), followed by five musicians (gonin-bayashi), two ministers (udaijin and sadaijin), and three servants ending the bottom row in a five-tiered display.
Families will generally start to display the dolls in February, usually in their living rooms and take them down immediately after the festival on March 3rd.
This picture is of the Hina Ningyo at my home in Japan.
Do you have/do a similar display in Australia, JA? :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Lina, The main display as shown in the post is at our home in Gifu, but in Australia we still have a little clay 雛人形 hina-ningyō that we display at home. We don't have a big display in Australia as we don't have any girls, so the big guns come out for Boy's Day in May for out little one :)
DeleteThe dolls are beautiful and the detail is breathtaking. No children in this house, so no display, but I love watching the displays in department stores and shop windows. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Rurousha, They are beautiful and the detail is amazing. We don't have any girls, so no big display at our home in Australia. The family in Japan is mainly girls so hence the cool display we have in Japan :)
DeleteWow, that's a gorgeous set..!
ReplyDeleteI'm always surprised at how much these sets cost ;o;
Thanks Alyse, It is a great set and my family in Japan have had it for many years. They are quite expensive, but once you have a good one you can use it for a long time :)
DeleteI love love love Hina Matsuri. I would love to own a beautiful display like that one day.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa, Me, too! We love bringing it out every year for Hina Matsuri. The big one for us though is Boy's Day in May and we have a great display for that :)
DeleteGreat display! Very jealous of your hina-ningyou!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah, We love bringing them out every year and have a cute little set that we display here in Australia as well :)
ReplyDeleteThe dolls are really lovely -- I didn't know the details behind Hina Matsuri and the dolls before reading this.
ReplyDeleteI missed doing anything in particular for the actual holiday, but today was able to go to a restaurant and try some traditional amazake and pink-colored food for Hina Matsuri.
Thanks Rin, Glad you were able to try some amazake and pink food for Hina Matsuri. It is a great festival and we are looking forward to Boy's Day in May :)
DeleteYou have a really nice Hina display at home!!! If you ever need to get rid of them, be sure to donate them to Katsuura, where they collect old Hina dolls from all over Japan for a huge festival. They have some gorgeous dolls there. I absolutely love your display, too--the gold and red is lovely.
ReplyDeleteThanks StarBrooke, The gold and red look good together don't they. I don't think we will ever get rid of them as we love bringing them out every year, but that is a good recycling idea instead of just throwing them away.
Deletewow!!! beautiful!!! Do you know where I can buy them? I'm thinking of getting a set, is rakuten a good source? I don't mind the price as long as they are the real price. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Anon, The best place would be right here in Japan. But if you are overseas then maybe an online site like Rakuten might be worth a visit.
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