Girls and Dolls

Sister to the amazing musical number of Guys and Dolls, Girls and Dolls has a more simple title in Japanese: Hinamatsuri.

The third of march has two meanings for most Japanese people: Girls' Day and Doll Festival.
Both of these celebrations are held simultaneously.

Dolls are thought to be a sort of container for bad spirits. And as such would be collected on this day and sent down the river into the sea in a ceremony called 'doll floating', or hina-nagashi. This tradition comes from the creation of straw hina dolls upon which Japanese people would transfer their illness, bad luck, or curses and would send down a river out to sea. Essentially sending all their troubles away. As the onset of spring and a season for new beginnings, it has developed into customary practice partaken by many. This custom may seem a little reminiscent of a few Vondun rituals no? Actually there is a separate custom entirely where if one wishes ill-will upon an individual, the creation of a hina doll bearing the name of the individual is undergone and then nailed to a tree.
On the other hand, these same hina dolls are often presented to young girls and used as ornamentation during this festival. It is a way of bringing good luck and future happiness to their daughters. Highly decorative and fashioned in a traditional ancient style of clothing, these dolls typically extremely expensive and are often passed down from generation to generation. These dolls will often set a buyer back one million or more yen; therefore it is not uncommon to only purchase the emperor and empress to start the collection and slowly, with one doll a year, expand the collection until completion. The emperor and empress tend to be the most expensive of the set donning the most elaborate dress made of the finest materials.
A full set of these dolls would consist of at least 15 dolls arranged on a 5 or 7 tiered (remember, lucky numners), red-carpeted platform which is usually placed in the best room of the house when they are on display. Interestingly the placement of the dolls differs slightly from the Kansai to Kanto regions ( as many things tend to), however the tiered arrangement is still that same.

• Top tier: Emperor and Empress Odairi-sama and Ohime-sama respectively ((御内裏様, 御雛様)
• Second tier: 3 court ladies, san-nin kanjo (三人官女)
• Third Tier: 5 musicians, gonin bayashi (五人囃子)
• Fourth Tier: 2 ministers: Minister of the Right, udaijin (右大臣) and Minister of the Left, sadaijin (左大臣)
• Fifth Tier: 3 servants
• Sixth and Seventh Tiers: miniature furnishings

In addition to the ornamentation, young girls will often throw a type of tea party, inviting people over and presenting the dolls, and of course themselves with sweets and tea and other assortments. 

It is a cute superstition, and a good way to make your offspring clean up, that if the dolls are not put away quickly after Hinamatsuri, then she is not to be wed for a long time.

Traditional meals on this day would often include shirosake (a sweet white sake), as well as hina-arare ( a type of popped rice snack that is often offered to the dolls), konpeitou ( a sweet snack), hishi-mochi ( pink, white, and green mochi which is also a frequent offering to the dolls), chirashi-sushi ( a type ofsushi), and perhaps most importantly, a clam soup called, hamaguri ushio-jiru. Clams are really important on this day and are given to girls, as clams symbolize chastity. The coloring of the mochi, where quite common, also has its own meanings: pink for the peach flowers ( which are not yet in bloom), white for the snow, and green for new growth.

Here is a really well done video showing some of he customs mentioned here as well as the traditional song that is sung on this day.

Little miniatures singing the Hina Matsuri song at the Shimogamo Shrine:



The Hina Matsuri River float of ohime and odairi sama at the Shimogamo Shrine: