THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS
Exhibition period : 2020, March 27th (Friday) – April 5th (Sunday)
Venue : Takahashi City Honmachi District
The Doll’s festival, or Hina Matsuri is officially March 3rd, but Takahashi City holds it on a period close to the 3rd march according to the ancient Japanese lunar calendar, in early April, thus it happens that the cherry trees are in bloom during the festival.
According to the tradition, a few days before D-day Japanese families put hina dolls on stepped platforms covered with red carpets to pray for the happiness of their little girls. The dolls feature characters of the imperial court of the Heian period (End of 8th century-End of 12th century). On the top platform are displayed the emperor and the empress, with a folding screen on the background, and on lower platforms are placed the three court ladies (san nin kannyo), the five musicians (go nin bayashi) and other attendants. Nowadays, a lot of houses only display the emperor and the empress.
Accordind to a popular belief, dolls have to be put away at the end of the Hina Matsuri’s day or it would delay the future marriage of the girls of the house.
Take a look at the impressive doll shelves displayed in the ancient Japanese houses of Takahashi Honmachi Machiya Street, and don’t forget to go to Koya River Street, designated as one of Japan’s top 100 roads, to look at the wonderful cherry blossoms !
To prevent the spread of novel coronavirus, there will be no food and hand-made objects booths.
A little doll featuring Sanjuro, the cat lord of Bitchu Matsuyama Castle, is available for sell !