Japanese Girl's Day

March 3 is Japanese Girl's Day called hina matsuri (hina doll festival) or momo no sekku (peach flower festival). A set of hina dolls wearing ancient kimono is displayed at homes of Japanese girls. An ohina-sama doll (the Empress) and an odairi-sama doll (the Emperor) are set on the top shelf. Then, sannin-kanjo dolls (three court women), gonin bayashi dolls (five court musicians), and more dolls, and hina-arare (rice crackers) and hishi-mochi (diamond shaped rice cakes) are placed on other shelves. It's the day to pray for girls' happiness and health, eating special food, such as chirashi-zushi (colorful sushi), clam soup, sakura mochi (sweet rice cakes), and more.

Hina matsuri originated in China, and it was established in Japan during Edo Period (1603-1867). Since then, different types of hina dolls have been created around Japan. In some areas in Japan, hina dolls are hung from the ceiling. They are called tsurushibina.

Here is a list of museums which exhibit various hina dolls in Japan.

• Hokkaido Hakodate Museum
  Hakodate-city, Hokkaido 0138-23-5480
• Yamagata Honma Museum
  Sakata-city Yamagata 0234-24-4311
• Aoyagi-ke
  Kakudate-city Akita 01875-3-2230
• Sugakawa-city Museum
  Sugakawa-city Fukushima 0248-75-3239
• Ibaragi Prefecture Museum
  Mito-city Ibaragi 0292-25-4425
• Kyoto National Museum
  Kyoto-city 075-541-1151
• Suokan
  Yonago-city Tottori 0853-33-2324
• Japan Toy Museum
  Kodera-cho, Kanzaki-gun Hyogo 0792-32-4388
• Japan Regional Toy Museum
  Kurashiki-city Okayama 0864-22-8058
• Mouri Museum
  Hofu-city Yamaguchi 0835-22-0001

If you would like to buy Japanese hina dolls, visit Kyugetsu Site. Kyugetsu is a long-established store for Japanese dolls.