Happy Girls’ Day, Baby!

March 3rd in Japan is a national holiday called “Girls’ Day” or Hinamatsuri (雛祭り). As my daughter, “Baby”, is Japanese, as well as American, my wife and I share this holiday with her. This is a day to honor young girls, and to wish them well in life and in marriage.

Traditionally, Hinamatsuri is celebrated by setting up a special doll set, like the one posted here on Wikipedia:

The dolls represent a marriage between the Emperor and his bride (upper-most tier) with the Imperial procession of ministers, guards, maids and so on. This style imagery is not something usually familiar with Westerners who are more familiar with the later Tokugawa-era culture of Japan.

The dress and colorful imagery of the dolls is more like that of the much earlier Heian-Period. Samurai and Zen as we know them did not exist then; Japan was much more Sinified (influenced by Chinese culture) and the Emperor was more ruler than figurehead in those days. In Japanese culture, the Heian Period is still seen by many as the Golden Era in Japanese history, because the culture of the time was so beautiful and had much to offer in the way of literature, poetry and so on.

By the way, a good book on life in the Heian Period is one of my favorites: The Tales of the Heike, which Thrig had kindly sold me for $0.42.* It details the end of the Heian Period and the rise of the Genpei War, which was a destructive feud between the Heike and Genji clans.

But, I am getting way off-track here.** By setting up this wonderful doll display, it’s the hope of the family that the young girl will have a successful and happy marriage, as befitting a princess. And, being parents ourselves, we wish our daughter no less.

Because we live in a tiny condominium, we can’t make room for such a large display, so my in-laws in Japan sent us a doll-set of just the upper-tier. I setup the doll set again this year, which takes about an hour. You have to be extremely careful of some of the pieces as they are fragile, and I make sure to wear cloth gloves to prevent getting oil on everything. The multi-layered, multi-colored robes of the bride are very typical fashion from the Heian-Period and are somewhat different than the kimono we normally think of in Japanese fashion. Think of them almost like the old, elaborate, hoop dresses that women in Europe used to wear, corsets, pettie-coats and all.

Lastly, as part of Girls’ Day tradition, families in Japan take down the doll set as soon as possible after Girls’ Day. The sooner the doll-set is taken down, the sooner, the girl will find a husband. So, after work tomorrow, I have my work cut out for me.

Anyways, all my love to you Baby. HAPPY GIRLS DAY!!!

Namuamidabu

P.S. More recent blog post on the subject, including pics, here.

* – Any nerd should appreciate the significance of “42″ by the way.

** – My wife kindly points that I do that a lot in conversation. It’s a wonder I still have friends. :p