Photo by David Wiley

Hina-matsuri

The Japanese Doll Festival, or Girls’ Day, held on March 3

Platforms covered with a red carpet are used to display a set of ornamental dolls (雛人形, hina-ningyō?) representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period.

The custom of displaying dolls began during the Heian period. Formerly, people believed the dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits. Hinamatsuri traces its origins to an ancient Japanese custom called hina-nagashi, in which straw hina dolls are set afloat on a boat and sent down a river to the sea, supposedly taking troubles or bad spirits with them. The festival is a celebration of girls’ health and growth.