"Girls' Day" redirects here. For the German festival for girls, see Girls' Day (Germany).
Hinamatsuri dolls
Hinamatsuri (雛祭り, Hina-matsuri), also called Doll's Day or Girls' Day, is a special day in Japan.[1]Hinamatsuri is celebrated each year on March 3.[2] This is a day for thinking about the happiness and health of young girls in Japanese families.[3]
Summary
Since the 8th century, it was traditional to have special days for children twice a year—March 3 for girls[4] and May 5 for boys.[5]
Dolls displayed on Hinamatsuri
The focus of attention on Hinamatsuri is a display of dolls which are dressed in the fashion of the Heian period. The group of dolls represent the Imperial court (hina ningyō).[2]
The Japanese term for the display steps is hina dan (雛壇).[2] There may be five or seven steps.
The Kantō region and Kansai region have different placement orders of the dolls from left to right, but the order of dolls per level are the same.
First platform, the top
The top tier holds two dolls. They are imperial dolls (内裏雛 (だいりびな), dairi-bina).[6]
Emperor (御内裏様, Odairi-sama) holds a ritual baton (笏, shaku)
