Japanese Doll Festival
The Japanese Doll Festival is also called Hina-matsuri in Japan. It is a "Girls' Day" held on March 3. There are platforms with a red cloth (hi-mosen) used to display a set of ornamental dolls (called hina-ningyo) representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period.
There are three or more layers.
First platform - An Emperor doll, with two handmaidens. The top tier holds two dolls representing the Emperor (O-Dairi-sama) and Empress (O-Hina-sama). The dolls are usually placed in front of a miniature gold folding screen.second platform
The second platform - usually holds three court ladies (San-nin kanjo). Each holds a sake-filler.
Third platform - usually holds five male musicians (Go-nin bayashi). Each holds a musical instrument except the singer, who holds a fan.
A varity of different things are shown in other platforms (miniature furniture, tools, carriages, etc).
Anyway, I was in Japan a few years ago and saw a set in yokohama. There are beautiful and very expensive: Here are the pics:
(I have a SLR now, but at time time, I used my little Canon G2 to take the shoots).
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