As a person from a relatively young nation, at least compared to Japan’s long history, I’m often floored by how old some of the traditions here are. March 3 is a special day for families with girl children, called Hina Matsuri or Doll’s Festival, which seems tailor-made to be fascinating to Japan-obsessed gaijin. A few weeks before, families will set up an extensive arrangement of beautiful dolls called hina ningyo, which are meant to represent the Japanese Emperor, his wife and the imperial court. On March 3rd, the family will have a special dinner, eating colorful rice crackers called hina-arare (yes, Dr. Slump fans, that’s where Arale-chan’s name comes from) and one of my all-time favorite foods, chirashi-zushi, essentially a “tossed salad” of fish mixed with sushi rice. It’s important to take the dolls down right away, it’s said, or your daughters will get married late in life. Amazingly, the custom of families celebrating their daughters with beautiful dolls dates back to the Heian Period (795-1185), which is six times longer than my hometown of San Diego has existed as a city. Note that J-List has some interesting Hina Matsuri items on the site — click to view!
Beautiful Hina Ningyo dolls on display.
