Happy Hina Matsuri

Meet my new girls, a Taisho-era (1912-1926) trio of Sannin Kanjo court ladies join the growing Hina population in Dallas.

In Japan, March 3rd is celebrated as Girl's Day, or the Peach Blossom Festival. Dolls mimicking characters of classical Heian court culture are displayed in hope that the girl of the house will grow up beautiful and marry well. Of course, it's also a great excuse to dress up and have tea and rice cakes!


Hand-made of straw, silk, wood, paper and covered in gofun, a paste of crushed oyster shell and glue, they're just so winsome...


This matched set joins a couple of slightly older Meiji girls and they differ a bit in construction. Most Hina doll heads are mounted on sharpened wood dowels, but these instead have metal wires that the heads attach onto...I've never seen this before. I have the original paulownia box but other than a bit of unreadable calligraphy, there are no labels.

I even pulled out this sweet early Showa (1926-89) girl's ro silk kimono with embroidery and yuzen hand-painting. It's so diaphanous and pretty, I can just imagine the lucky little girl that got to wear it - totally charming!

Yay! Spring is here!