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AB 1055 r ww

Hinamatsuri

  • AB 1055 t Taiko drummer doll (front)
  • AB 1130 m Hinaningyo
  • AB 1055 k, l Kakebanzen
  • AB 81-93 a Warabe-ningyo
  • AB 70-3 v Gosho-guruma
  • AB 62-1 a-u Miniature Hinaningyo Set
  • AB 88-1 Miniature Hinaningyo Set (open)
  • AB 90-4 a,b Snoopy Hinaningyo
  • AB 1055 r ww Sakura Tree
  • 2004.10.2 No Actor Doll (front)
  • AB 1055 f Hinaningyo Empress Doll (front)
  • AB 1055 dd Hinaningyo Court Servant (front)
  • AB 1055 g Hinaningyo Emperor Doll (front)
  • AB 1055 p Hinaningyo Lady-in-Waiting (front)
  • AB 1055 y Hinamatsuri Guard Doll (front)
  • AB 1055 w Musician Hinaningyo (front)

Hinamatsuri Did you know?

What is it?
Sakura Tree
What is it made of?
Cloth/Wood/Paper
Where is it from?
Japan
When was it made?
1910-1920
Object ID
AB 1055 r ww
Description

This miniature sakura (cherry tree) is part of a Hinamatsuri set of dolls. It would be placed on the fifth tier amid servants and guards in a traditional arrangement. The tree is composed of four wooden trunks with pink cloth blossoms and buds. It is enclosed by a wooden grillwork fence on a white painted wooden base. 

Hinamatsuri, the Doll Festival or Girls' Day, is held annually on March 3 to celebrate the happiness and health of young girls. The holiday originated during the Edo period (1600-1868) to ward off evil spirits, and at some Hinamatsuri festivals today, people release paper dolls into the rivers to carry away sickness and bad fortune.

Setting up a display of special festival dolls in the house is fundamental to the festival; the display is usually put up in mid-February but put away as soon as the festival ends because of old superstitions. Hinamatsuri dolls wear Heian period (794-1192) clothing, and are placed in specific locations on a one-,  five-, or seven-tiered platform covered with red felt (depending on the number of dolls owned). On the top tier, the emperor and empress dolls are placed in front of a miniature gold folding screen. The second tier holds the sannin kanjo, three ladies-in-waiting dolls, with takatsuki (round tables) holding sweets in between them. The gonin bayashi (five musicians) stand and sit on the third tier, playing a small taiko drum, a large ōtsuzumi drum, a kotsuzumi hand drum, or a yokobue (flute); the fifth musician is an utaika (singer). On the fourth tier are the daijin (court ministers): a young Minister of the Right and the older Minister of the Left, with a hishidai (diamond-shaped table) and a kakebanzen (covered-bowl table). The fifth tier features guards and/or servants amid a sakura (cherry tree) and an orange tree. The final two tiers hold an array of items, including clothing chests (nagamochi and tansu), hibachi braziers, tea ceremony utensils, and carriages/palanquins, among others.

Credit
Gift of the City of Kyoto, 1926
AB 1055 r ww Sakura Tree