Hina Dolls: The Court in Miniature for the Girls' Festival
Every year on 3 March, families in Japan celebrate Hinamatsuri, the Doll Festival or Girls' Day, by setting out a display of hina ningyō. Dressed in the silks of the ancient imperial court, the dolls are arranged on a stepped stand covered in red cloth, with lacquered furniture and tiny musical instruments. Old sets are among the most beautiful of all Japanese dolls.
From paper to silk
The festival grew from an ancient custom of transferring misfortune to simple paper or straw figures and floating them away on rivers, known as nagashi-bina. Over the Edo period the figures became elaborate dolls to be kept and displayed, and the display grew from a single pair into a whole court.
The tiered display
- Top tier. The emperor and empress, dairi-bina, before a folding screen.
- Second tier. Three court ladies with sake vessels.
- Third tier. Five musicians with drums, flute and a singer's fan.
- Lower tiers. Two ministers, three servants and a procession of lacquered furniture, palanquins and trees.
The emperor stands on the viewer's left in the Kantō arrangement and on the right in the traditional Kyoto arrangement.
Edo styles
- Kyōhō-bina. Large, grand dolls of the mid-eighteenth century with long, narrow faces and rich brocades.
- Jirozaemon-bina. Dolls with round, gentle faces and small features, made after the style of a Kyoto doll maker of that name.
- Kokin-bina. Developed in Edo in the late eighteenth century, with realistic faces and inset glass eyes. This style became the model for most later sets.
Makers and materials
Hina dolls are made by specialists: one craftsman makes heads, another hands, another dresses the bodies. Faces are coated in many layers of gofun, a white made from ground shell, polished to a soft lustre. Kyoto has always been a centre of fine doll making, and Iwatsuki in Saitama is one of Japan's great doll towns. Signed heads and dolls with original boxes inscribed by the maker are particularly valued.
Condition and care
- Look for cracks and losses to the gofun, especially on faces and hands.
- Check the silk for fading, splits and insect damage.
- Count the accessories. Fans, swords, sceptres and instruments are often missing.
- Store dolls wrapped in soft paper, faces protected, in a dry place with insect repellent kept away from direct contact with the dolls.
- Tradition says the dolls should be put away soon after the festival. It also protects them from light and dust.