Osaka - Monday, March １, 2010

In Japan, families with girls celebrate March 3rd is a day to wish for their growth and happiness. Families with girls display a set of hina dolls at home and make offerings of white sake and hina-arare, (rice crackers). It is believed hina dolls protect girls from bad luck.

1. What is the Doll's Festival and how is it celebrated?

This family event originally began in the Edo era and is referred to as the Doll's Festival because families of girls display a set of dolls representing the emperor, empress, their servants, miniature furniture, and so forth, on a five or seven-tiered stand. Cerebration also accompanies the Doll's Festival foods including vinegared rice with thin strips of egg, pieces of raw fish, vegetables and crab meat arranged on top and diamond-shaped coloured rice cake (as in the photo) in addition to white sake and hina-arare. There is also the Doll's Festival song as well.

2. What are the related events and lores?

It is often said that ancient people transferred their sins onto the dolls and threw them in rivers. This event is called Nagashi-bina, in which dolls are floated down rivers to wash away bad luck. In Katsuura City, Chiba Prefecture, more than 10 thousand dolls are displayed during the festival. A hina parade featuring children dressed like hina dolls is also staged.

In addition, it is often said that the set of dolls need to be put away immediately after March 3rd otherwise the girl will not be able get married. There does not seem to be a logical relationship between the timing of putting away the dolls and whether the girls get married or stay single (or timing of getting married). What they try to imply is that in traditional ancient Japan, girls brought up in a family with sloppy lifestyle (e.g. lazy to put away seasonal things such as the Hina dolls in a timely manner) will not easily welcomed as a bride.

3. What is the reality today?

Similarly to other traditional ceremonies, less family is celebrating the Doll's Festival as it used to be. This might be because people simply cannot afford to buy set of dolls and/or have no space to display in their house. Or people simply do not find importance of celebrating such a tradition.

Also, Japanese females now have much wider range of options to choose from (thus some are stuck to choose the best choice for them) and they are mostly free from stereotyped marriage and housewife. This is good; however, it is possible that this is one reason for low birthrate, along with weak economy and tough labour market leading to anxiety in economic independence of individuals, economic burden of raising children and poor social infrastructure for working mothers.

Sublime concept "wish for growth and happiness or girls" of the Doll's Festival and the belief that "hina dolls protect girls from bad luck" remain the same regardless of the era but the definition of happiness and luck seem to be going through change society in which we live in and values of people changes. Similarly to keeping to and succeeding philosophy of the company to next generation but transforming/evolving the organization, strategy and methodology of realizing philosophy, the author feel that essence off the tradition of the ceremony is to be maintained and passed down to our posterities.