In March, Japan celebrates what is known as the girls' festival, also known as hina matsuri. This is a very popular festival for girls. In the previous month of February, girls all across Japan, begin making their dolls. Some mountainous regions in Japan actually celebrate this festival at the end of March or at the start of April because the coming of spring occurs a little later. I was lucky to have gone to Miyagi prefecture in March. It seems that in Tokyo, amidst all the hustle and bustle of such a fast pace city, most people seem to forget, or possibly ignore, this very colorful festival. We had to drive into the northern parts of Honshuu island into some smaller towns to be able to appreciate the colorful displays of these dolls. We had taken the shinkansen (the bullet train) to Sendai City to meet some friends. They have a car and over the weekend they took us to visit a couple of nearby small towns. What's interesting about the small towns, is that the souvenir shops, restaurants, cafes, and museums, all have some sort of display showing off their collection of hina matsuri dolls. Below, are a few of the various display dolls. The most common theme, is to have a prince and princess made of bone, hair, and actual fabric. However, as you can see, other materials are also used.
In May, there is apparently a corresponding boys is festival. However, since we stayed in Tokyo and went abroad for a short trip, we missed all displays of the boys dolls.
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