Hina doll festival

On 4th and 17th March, hubby and I went to see hina doll festival in Yurihonjo city of Akita prefecture and Sakata city of Yamagata prefecture. The Japanese doll festival hina matsuri is held on March 3rd 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 stepped 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, we visited several public displays of hina dolls some of which were antique and dated back a few hundred years.

Yurihonjo hinakaido

We went to see hina doll displays at two places in Yurihonjo city of Akita prefecture. There is a public annual traditional doll display event held in the city that has been named as Yurihonjo hinakaido, which means ‘Yurihonjo city hina doll route’. The first event was held in 2008, and since then it has been held every year. Yurihonjo hinakaido 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 were displayed at six public exhibition halls from February 10 until April 08. These public halls are Kameda castle Sato Yasohachi art museum, Iwaki local history museum, Ouchi Dewa denshokan, Honjo kyodo shiryoukan, Shushin-kan hall in Honjo Park, and Yashima kyodo bunka hozon denshu shisetsu. In addition, machinaka hina-meguri festival takes place in more than 60 different locations within the city where visitors can follow a map and drop by in shops, hotels, a few private homes and offices, and see traditional hina doll displays. This year it was held from March 09 to March 20 in Ouchi, Honjo and Yashima, and from March 17 to April 03 in Iwaki. The hina doll displays vary greatly in size, history and style.

Shushin-kan in Honjo Park

On March 17th, hubby and I went to see the display of hina dolls at Shushin-kan in Honjo Park, which is one of the six public exhibition halls in Yurihonjo city. Honjo Park is located on the site of Honjo Castle which was built in 1613. Shushin-kan hall is located in the center of the park where we can learn about the history and culture of Honjo. The park is located about three kilometers away from our home and it took us ten minutes to reach there by our car. Several types of exquisite and beautiful hina doll sets were exhibited in one of the rooms of Shushin-kan hall. We moved inside the room in a counterclockwise direction and enjoyed seeing the antique as well as modern doll sets and paintings one at a time.

Display of hina dolls inside a room at Shushin-kan hall in Honjo Park

Display of antique hina dolls inside the room

Hubby reading some information about the displayed hina dolls

First we saw dairibina imperial hina doll set belonging to Sasaki-ke (Sasaki family) of Omote Ozaki town in Honjo city. The hina dolls were typical kokinbina dolls of Edo period. A person named Otsuchiya Hambei of Ikenohata Nakacho in Ueno was a well known wholesale dealer of hina dolls during Meiwa era (1764-1772) of Edo period. He ordered a hina doll maker named Hara Shugetsu to make these beautiful dolls. The traditional arrangement of the dolls during the Edo period had emperor doll odairisama on the right side and empress doll ohinasama on the left side from the viewer’s perspective. The eye balls of the displayed dairibina dolls were made of glass, which is one of the salient features of kokinbina that makes the dolls look real life-like. In addition, the faces of the dolls were shiny. The kimono clothes of these dolls had a lot of gold threads, colored threads, and gold brocade. This kind of kokinbina dolls are considered to be the origin of the style of present day modern gendaibina dolls.

Dairibina imperial hina doll set of Sasaki-ke

I am standing next to kokinbina dolls of Edo period

Odairisama doll of Sasaki-ke

Ohinasama doll of Sasaki-ke

Adjacent to kokinbina dolls, we saw a beautiful gendaibina doll set made during the Showa period (1926-1989). These dairibina imperial dolls have a modern style. In fact, kokinbina dolls of the later part of Edo period are considered to be the origin of the modern style gendaibina dolls. The arrangement of gendaibina dolls of the Showa period as well as the present day hina dolls has odairisama on the left side and ohinasama on the right side from the viewer’s perspective. The facial features of the displayed gendaibina dolls exhibited classical features of the traditional Kyoto styled dolls. In fact, the modern dolls reflecting Kyoto styled facial features were very popular during the Showa period.

Gendaibina doll set of Showa period

Odairisama doll

Ohinasama doll

In another corner of the room we saw colorful paintings of hina dolls that were painted by a technique known as Dimple Art. This method involves painting on large glass panels with a special paint made from recycled products. The paintings look like real stained glass. I was pleasantly surprised to know that the paint used for Dimple Art is made from recycled polyvinyl butyral (PVB) resin. Windshield of cars usually contains an interlayer of PVB between two or more layers of glass. This PVB keeps the glass layers bonded even when broken by an impact. PVB is an industrial waste and according to the Japanese laws recycling of PVB is mandatory for automobile manufacturers. Professor Takao Kimura from Utsunomiya University has been successful in recycling PVB as paint for use in Dimple Art. Very eco-friendly recycling of industrial waste. After knowing the history of Dimple Art, we were very much interested to see the paintings of hina dolls in details. There was a grand display of Dimple Art paintings of odairisama and ohinasama in one corner of the hall room. We loved viewing these beautiful paintings. The colors were so vivid, luscious, bright, and fresh.

Display of Dimple Art paintings of hina dolls in one corner of the room at Shushin-kan hall

Two Dimple Art paintings of dairibina dolls

Painting of dairibina dolls and san-nin kanjo dolls

Painting of odairisama

Painting of ohinasama

Another colorful painting of ohinasama

Akita Airport

Under the machinaka hina-meguri festival, one set of hina dolls were exhibited at the second floor of domestic terminal of Akita Airport. The exhibition was held from March 01 to March 19. On March 4th, hubby and I went to Akita Airport to travel to Tokyo as hubby had been to Thailand for a business trip the next day. I just accompanied him up to Tokyo. The displayed hina doll set at the airport was very cute and dairibina imperial dolls had modern gendaibina style. It should be noted that the economy of Japan became very strong after World War II, and families with daughters preferred to have lavish hina doll sets having many ornamental dolls for private display at home. Therefore during the postwar era along with the dolls representing dairibina imperial dolls, many other dolls like san-nin kanjo, gonin bayashi, ministers, attendants, and a variety of miniature furniture and tools are also displayed on five to seven stepped platforms covered with a red decoration sheet. The public exhibition of hina doll set at Akita Airport also had many dolls and accessories, and the doll set was displayed on a seven stepped platform.

Hina doll set displayed on a seven stepped platform at Akita Airport

Dairibina, san-nin kanjo, and gonin bayashi ornamental dolls

Odairisama doll

Ohinasama doll

Yamagata hina dolls

A trip to Yamagata prefecture is essential to experience the hina matsuri festival with the strongest vestiges of its former glory. Yamagata area has the highest concentration of publicly accessible hina displays in all of Japan. Many wealthy merchants were based in this region during Edo period and the displays are usually held in their former residences, many of which have been converted to private museums. We visited Homma Museum of Art in Sakata city.

Homma Museum of Art

In the afternoon of March 17th, we visited Homma Museum of Art in Sakata city of Yamagata prefecture. It took us about two hours to reach the museum by our car. It is a private museum that opened in 1947. It was loaned by Homma family and has exhibits that increase cultural awareness about Japan. There is a beautiful garden in the museum premises. The doll exhibits of this museum are very popular and are well known throughout Japan. This year from February 25 to April 03, various kinds of hina dolls from the initial Edo period to Meiji period and belonging to Satake-ke, Kazama-ke, Akino-ke and several other families were displayed at the museum. The exhibition consisted of a collection of 70 classic antique hina doll sets with more than 200 dolls.

Garden in front of Homma Museum of Art

Display of several antique hina dolls inside the museum

I am standing in front of a few dolls inside the museum

The main attraction of the museum this year was a pair of kyouhobina dolls. Kyouhobina dolls were initially made during Kyouho era (1716-1736) of Edo period, and this style of hina dolls became very popular during this era. It should be noted that ‘kyouhobina’ is the name of hina doll style and were made even after the era ended. The main pair of kyouhobina dolls displayed at the museum was made during the end of Edo period. Kyouhobina dolls are rather big in size as compared to other types of hina dolls. Amongst various kyouhobina dolls exhibited at this museum, the main pair of dolls was the biggest one. The height of odairisama doll was 49.8 cm and ohinasama doll was 41.8 cm. Odairisama doll looked handsome in sokutai kimono, had a sword as an accessory, and held a flat ritual baton named shaku. Ohinasama doll looked elegant in five-layered robe itsutsuginu and an exotic outermost costume karaginu kimono, and also wore a beautiful crown. Kimono sleeves of odairisama and ohinasama were straightened sideways laterally and the kimono cloth had a lot of gold material and brocade, which are the salient features of kyouhobina dolls.

I am standing next to a pair of kyouhobina dolls which were the main attraction of hina doll display this year

Odairisama doll

Ohinasama doll

We loved visiting the exhibition of various kinds of hina dolls in Yurihonjo and Sakata cities.

Yurihonjo hinakaido doll festival - part 2

As I wrote in the previous post, on 13th and 21st March hubby and I went to see a doll festival known as Yurihonjo hinakaido. The festival is a public annual traditional display of dolls and is held in six public exhibition halls as well as fifty different locations within Yurihonjo city of Akita prefecture. This festival event is held in the month of March. While hina matsuri is a private display of hina dolls at homes of families with daughters, hinakaido festival is a public display of antique hina dolls some of which date back at least several hundred years. In the previous post I wrote about the display of Edo period hina dolls at Yashima kyodo bunka hozon denshu shisetsu in Yashima. Today I will write about our visit to Shushin-kan in Honjo Park where exquisite hina dolls were displayed in an exhibition room.

Shushin-kan in Honjo Park
On 21st March, hubby and I went to see the display of hina dolls at Shushin-kan in Honjo Park. Honjo Park is located on the site of Honjo Castle which was built in 1613. Shushin-kan and Honmaru-no-yakata are two halls located in the center of the park. We can learn about the history and culture of Honjo at these two halls. Although hina doll display was held in both the halls, we visited only Shushin-kan hall. The park is located about three kilometers away from our home and it took us ten minutes to reach there by our car. Various types of old and exquisite hina doll sets like kokinbina and kyohoubina were exhibited in one of the rooms of Shushin-kan hall. The exhibition room looked so beautiful with several hina doll sets. We moved inside the room in a counterclockwise direction and enjoyed seeing the antique doll sets one at a time.

Kami-ningyo paper dolls of Mishima Michi
The first hina doll set on display was made by Mishima Michi. She was an elementary school teacher. In 1961, after retiring from her job as a teacher, she started making kami-ningyo paper dolls using washi Japanese paper. These kami-ningyo dolls are made of Tosa washi paper of Kochi prefecture. Three-dimensional dolls are one of the salient features of Mishima Michi’s paper dolls. The dolls on display have two dimensional traditional collars that express the beauty of shoulder line, and the entire shape of dolls have a three-dimensional feeling. These dolls were donated by Mishima Eiji to the local historical artifacts museum named Honjo kyodo shiryokan in 1998.

Kami-ningyo paper dolls of Mishima Michi

Emperor and empress (dairibina) paper dolls made by Mishima Michi

Hina dolls of Watanabe-ke
The second set of hina dolls on display belongs to the family (ke in Japanese) of Watanabe Yoshio of Mikura town. On the back of the case where this doll set is kept, the year 1838 is written which is probably the year the dolls were bought. It is also written on the case that the doll set belongs to Jou-un-in. Jou-un-in was the wife of the ninth feudal lord Rokugo Masatsune of Honjo-han of Dewa province. The wife was originally from Ise province and moved to Honjo after marriage to the feudal lord. These hina dolls do not have pedestal. The height of emperor and empress dolls (dairibina) is 45 cm, which is very large. These dairibina dolls are of the type kyohoubina. The dolls have gorgeous clothes and kazari (accessory) decorations, which is one of the salient features of kyohoubina dolls. The gorgeous clothes and the hugeness of these dolls represent the peak of hina matsuri festival during Edo period.

Hina dolls of Watanabe-ke

Dairibina dolls of Watanabe-ke

Empress (ohinasama) doll of Watanabe-ke

Emperor (odairisama) doll of Watanabe-ke

Five male dolls representing musicians (gonin bayashi) kept on the right side of dairibina dolls of Watanabe-ke

Five male dolls representing samurai attendants and ministers kept on the left side of dairibina dolls of Watanabe-ke

Hubby appreciating the hina dolls of Watanabe-ke

Me standing in front of hina dolls of Watanabe-ke

Hina dolls donated by Sudo-ke
The third set of hina dolls on display was donated by Sudo family. This doll set is of the type Kyohoubina and was made in 1853. Odairisama (emperor) and ohinasama (empress) dolls look very elegant and the clothes of the dolls look gorgeous and well maintained.

Hina dolls donated by Sudo-ke

Dairibina dolls of Sudo-ke

Ohinasama doll of Sudo-ke

Hina dolls donated by Miura-ke
The fourth doll set on display was donated by Miura family. This doll set is of the type kokinbina and was made in the beginning of Showa period. The dolls are well maintained and look almost practically new.

Hina dolls donated by Miura-ke

Dairibina dolls and three court ladies (san-nin kanjo) of Miura-ke

Ohinasama doll of Miura-ke

Hina dolls donated by Miura family were the last ones on display in the exhibition room. Shushin-kan hall is basically a facility to learn about the history and culture of Honjo. So we moved around inside the hall and saw various exhibits related to the history of Honjo. There was an armor set on display which belonged to Kusunoki family of Yurihonjo, who later donated it to Honjo kyodo shiryokan museum. Family crest of a famous samurai Kusunoki Masashige is put on the armor. He is remembered as an ideal of samurai loyalty and belonged the transition era from Kamakura period to Nanbokucho period. Although the family crest of the famous samurai is there on the armor but little is known about its origin and it is unclear as to how the armor reached Kusunoki family of Yurihonjo.

Hubby standing next to a samurai armor that has family crest of Kusunoki Masashige

Top portion of the samurai armor

We enjoyed seeing the antique hina doll display at Shushin-kan hall in Honjo Park.

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.