Yurihonjo hinakaido doll festival - part 1

On 13th and 21st March, hubby and I went to see a doll festival known as Yurihonjo hinakaido. Yurihonjo hinakaido means ‘Yurihonjo city hina doll route’, which is the name of a public annual traditional doll display event held in Yurihonjo city of Akita prefecture. Visitors can follow a map of public displays of traditional hina dolls at over 50 different locations around the city. The Japanese doll festival (hina matsuri) is held on March 03 every year. Families with daughters display a set of ornamental dolls representing the emperor and empress (dairibina), three court ladies (san-nin kanjo), five male musicians (gonin bayashi), ministers, and attendants in traditional court dress of the Heian period. The dolls are placed on platforms with a red decoration sheet called a himosen. The custom of displaying dolls began during the Heian period. It was believed that the dolls possessed the power to contain evil spirits. While hina matsuri is a private display of hina dolls at homes of families with daughters, Yurihonjo hinakaido festival is a public display of antique hina dolls that date back at least several hundred years.

Yurihonjo hinakaido doll display festival is coordinated by Akita prefecture Yuri　regional development office. Hinakaido festival encompasses four main areas of Yurihonjo city, namely Iwaki in the north, Ouchi and Honjo in the center, and Yashima in the south. This year, hina dolls are displayed at six public exhibition halls from February 13 until April 04. These public halls are Kameda castle Sato Yasohachi art museum (Iwaki), Iwaki local history museum, Ouchi denshokan, Honjo kyodo shiryoukan, Shushin-kan and Honmaru-no-yakata halls in Honjo Park, and Yashima kyodo bunka hozon denshu shisetsu. In addition, machinaka hina-meguri festival takes place in more than fifty different locations within the city, and this year it was held from March 03 until March 22. During machinaka hina-meguri festival, people could drop by in shops, hotels and offices, and see traditional hina doll displays, often dating back in the same family for hundreds of years. The hina doll displays vary greatly in size, history and style. In March 2009, hubby and I visited the hina doll displays in Sasaki house of Amasagi Mura in Iwaki, Ouchi denshokan, Honjo kyodo shiryoukan, and Kameda castle Sato Yasohachi art museum. Beautiful photographs of antique dolls can be found in blog posts of last year Yurihonjo hinakaido doll festival part 1 and part 2. This year we visited hina doll displays at Yashima kyodo bunka hozon denshu shisetsu and Shushin-kan in Honjo Park. In this post, I will write about our visit to Yashima kyodo bunka hozon denshu shisetsu.

Yashima kyodo bunka hozon denshu shisetsu
On 13th March, hubby and I went to see the display of hina dolls at Yashima kyodo bunka hozon denshu shisetsu which is a facility (institute) for preservation of local cultural heritage. We started from our home at about 10 am and it took us about 45 minutes to reach the facility by our car. The facility is very near to Yashima railway station and we saw a sky-blue and bright yellow colored train waiting at the station.

Yellow and sky blue train at Yashima railway station

Very old hina dolls of Yashima region from Edo period were displayed in one of the halls of the facility. Various types of exquisite hina doll sets like kokinbina, kyohoubina, keshibina, and oshiebina were exhibited. The exhibition hall looked so beautiful which was full of hina dolls. In addition, there were several hanging ornaments called Tsurushi kazari which consists of various kinds of handmade small cute hanging dolls. There were several hina doll sets in the hall and so we moved inside the hall in a counterclockwise direction and enjoyed seeing the antique doll sets one at a time.

Exhibition hall of hina doll display

Exhibition hall and Tsurushi kazari

Beautiful Tsurushi kazari

Me standing next to Tsurushi kazari

Doll of Ikoma Chikaakira
The first doll in the exhibition hall was of the ninth feudal lord of Yashima-han named Ikoma Chikaakira. The last feudal lord of Yashima-han Ikoma Chikayuki was forced to leave Yashima at the end Edo period. In 1871 he kept all his belongings with his servant and left Yashima. All these belongings were later given to Saito family who now own this doll. The cloth of doll is made of the same material as the clothes worn by the ninth feudal lord Ikoma Chikaakira.

Doll of Ikoma Chikaakira

Oshie dolls of Tomida-ke
Traditionally in Akita, oshie paper dolls were presented to new born daughters. Oshie dolls of Tomida-ke (ke means family) were made using cloth (usually recycled kimono silks) that was cut and fitted to hard-lining padded cardboard outlines. The dolls were then mounted on a bamboo stick as was customary. There were various themes for oshie dolls like kabuki, fairytale, good luck omen, and ukiyo-e. Many oshie dolls were made from the end of Edo period up to World War II. However after the war, oshie doll making was stopped due to shortage of cloth.

Oshie dolls of Tomida-ke

Oshie dolls of Takeuchi-ke
Natsue Takeuchi (deceased 1973) of Yashima town made these oshie dolls. If someone wanted oshie dolls for their daughters, she made the dolls and presented to them. Theme for oshie dolls was kabuki or fairytale.

Oshie dolls of Takeuchi-ke

Hina dolls of Tomida-ke
Tomida family of Yashimacho is presently into liquor business. However, earlier the family was making papers for fusuma doors as well as dealt with various types of papers used for painting. The origin of hina dolls of Tomida-ke is not known. The family has keshibina as well as kokinbina dolls. It seems that whenever a daughter was born into Tomida-ke, new hina doll sets were bought. The doll set on display is keshibina type. The height of odairisama (emperor doll) is 10.5 cm and ohinasama (empress doll) is 9.5 cm. San-nin kanjo and gonin bayashi are also present in the doll set. Although variety of miniature furniture, chest of drawers, and utensils for tea ceremony are displayed, they do not belong to this set of hina dolls.

Hina dolls of Tomida-ke

Dairisama and san-nin kanjo dolls of Tomida-ke

Hina dolls of Sato-ke
Sato family is living in Yashimacho from the beginning of Edo period. The family was into dyeing business from 1784 to the middle of Meiji period. During the end of Edo period, Sato family became the leader of nine villages and was allowed to have a family name and a sword (during Edo period only samurai classes and above had official family names). When a daughter was born into Sato-ke, the hina doll set on display was presented by relatives in 1917. This doll set is keshibina type. The height of odairisama is 10.5 cm and ohinasama is 9.5 cm. It is unknown when these dolls were made, however the year 1917 is written on the case of the doll set. The conservation condition of these dolls is excellent and shining clothes of the dolls can still be seen. Odairisama, ohinasama, gonin bayashi, and zuishin (court guards) belong to the same set of dolls. However, the original san-nin kanjo of this set was presented by Sato-ke to a new-born daughter of their relative during World War II. So the present san-nin kanjo of the doll set was bought after the war.

Hina dolls of Sato-ke

Dairisama dolls of Sato-ke

Hina dolls of Kumagaya-ke
Kumagaya family of Yashimacho started the business of lumber and a sawmill company in 1935. The hina doll set of Kumagaya-ke originally belonged to a wealthy person of Sakata in Yamagata who bought it from Kyoto. However, it is unknown when these dolls were bought from Kyoto. Somehow the dolls reached Kumagaya-ke during World War II. In 1955 almost all hina goods were burnt in a fire, so that now only dairibina, gonin bayashi, and a few miniature chests of drawers remain. This hina doll set is of the type kokinbina. The height of odairisama is 54 cm and ohinasama is 53 cm. It is unknown when these dolls were made. But from 1787 to 1793, Edo government restricted the making of such huge hina dolls and the maximum allowed height of the dolls was 26 cm. So this doll set was probably made after the restriction period, sometime around 1811-29. The eye balls of dairibina and gonin bayashi are made of glass, which is one of the salient features of kokinbina that makes the dolls look real life-like. In 1780, gonin bayashi of hina doll set was contrived as a representation of noh-play in Edo city. At about the same time in 1787, gonin bayashi was started to be used as a representation of gagaku play in Kyoto. Since the gonin bayashi of Kumagaya-ke represents gagaku play, so it is believed that gonin bayashi and the entire kokinbina doll set is originally from Kyoto. From the size and the way of making dairibina, gonin bayashi, and hina goods and tools, it is concluded that all the dolls and tools belong to the same unit set.

Hina dolls of Kumagaya-ke

Ohinasama doll of Kumagaya-ke

Me standing next to hina dolls of Kumagaya-ke

Hina dolls of Kotsugai-ke
Kotsugai family of Yashimacho was into dyeing business from end of Edo period to the middle of Meiji period. The hina doll set of Kotsugai-ke was moved from Akita to Sakata in 1934. But in 1935, a daughter of Kotsugai-ke married into a family living in Sakata. At that time, hina doll set was returned back to Kotsugai-ke. It is written on the back side of dairibina and gonin bayashi dolls that they were made in 1848. The back of the case where this doll set is kept shows that it was bought in 1851. Also on the doll set case, town names Iwaki and Kagacho are written, which indicates that at some point these dolls belonged to family/homes in these places. This hina doll set is of the type kokinbina. The height of odairisama is 42 cm and ohinasama is 38 cm. The back of the package of gonin bayashi shows that it was made by Takeuchi Bunkai (1797-1863) who was a Japanese style painter and sculptor. This type of hina doll set is also present in Aoyagi family of Kakunodate city. Although eye balls of kokinbina dolls are supposed to be made of glass, the eyes of dairibina dolls of Kotsugai-ke are painted. But eye balls of gonin bayashi are made of glass.

Hina dolls of Kotsugai-ke

Ohinasama doll of Kotsugai-ke

Hina dolls of Sugai-ke
In 1686, Sugai family moved from Sakata to Yashimacho and started a liquor shop named Sakataya. Later Sugai-ke assumed an important position in Yashimacho. The family crest of Kitsugawa-ke is kept as one of the hina equipments of hina doll set of Sugai-ke. Kitsugawa-ke is the family name of the wife of the ninth Edo period feudal lord Ikoma Chikaakira of Yashima-han. The daughter of Kitsugawa-ke married the feudal lord in 1791. Although the official list of items the wife of lord received from Kitsugawa-ke during her marriage shows no record of hina doll set, however it is generally considered to come from the wife’s family. So even though the origin of dairibina of Sugai-ke is unknown, it is believed that it might have originally come from Kitsugawa-ke. This hina doll set is of the type kokinbina. The height of odairisama is 28 cm and ohinasama is 33 cm. Although eye balls of kokinbina dolls are supposed to be made of glass, the eyes of dairibina dolls of Sugai-ke are painted.

Hina dolls of Sugai-ke

Ohinasama doll of Sugai-ke

Hina dolls of Fujita-ke
Fujita family moved from Honjo to Yashimacho at the end of Edo period. Fujita-ke was dealer of medicine and kimono fabrics and had a shop named Ogawaya. The shogi board of Kitsugawa-ke is kept as one of the hina equipments of hina doll set of Fujita-ke. Kitsugawa-ke is the family name of the wife of the ninth feudal lord of Yashima-han. So although the origin of dairibina of Fujita-ke is unknown, it is believed that it might have originally come from the family of Ikoma feudal lord. This hina doll set is of the type kyohoubina. The height of odairisama is 40 cm and ohinasama is 35 cm. It is unknown when these dolls were made, however the gold crown pattern of odairisama seems to be from the initial Edo period. Kimono sleeves of odairisama and ohinasama are straightened sideways laterally and the kimono cloth uses a lot of gold material and brocade, which are the salient features of kyohoubina dolls.

Hina dolls of Fujita-ke

Ohinasama doll of Fujita-ke

The hina doll set of Fujita-ke were the last ones on display inside the exhibition hall. The facility (institute) is basically a center for preservation of local cultural heritage. So we moved around in other exhibition rooms and saw a statue of Yamabushi mountain ascetic hermit. In another room, we saw a replica of a farmer’s home of Taisho period.

Hubby standing next to a statue of yamabushi

Farmer’s house of Taisho period

We enjoyed seeing the antique hina doll display at Yashima kyodo bunka hozon denshu shisetsu. On 21st March, we went to see hina doll display at Shushin-kan hall in Honjo Park about which I will write in the next post.