March 3rd is a special day for young girls every year in Japan.  It is called Hinamatsuri (ひなまつり、雛祭り).  In English, it is called Doll’s Festival or Girl’s Day. People in Japan celebrate March 3rd every year, wishing their daughters for their happiness for many years to come.

Hinamatsuri(ひなまつり、雛祭り). originated as an ancient custom called hina-nagashi(ひなながし、雛流し), or “doll floating” where people would float dolls down the river. This is because it was believed that the dolls would carry away the bad spirits with them. Today, this custom still remains. These days, the dolls for hinanagashi are made of paper, and set afloat in little boats that are later recovered.

Today, more commonly, families with daughters display their dolls called hina-ningyo(ひなにんぎょう、雛人形), representing the Emperor, Empress, and their attendants dressed in beautiful ancient Heian Period (794-1185) court costumes. The traditional Hinaningyo has 7 tiers. What they display on the top tier are two dolls, known as imperial dolls, dairi-bina(だいりびな,内裏雛). These are the Emperor ,called Odairi-sama(おだいりさま), and the Empress, called Ohime-sama in Japanese. Odairi-sama is holding a ritual baton, but the Ohina-sama is holding a fan. The words dairi means “imperial palae”, and hime means “princess” in Japanese.The dolls are usually placed in front of a gold folding screen byobu (びょうぶ、屏風).

Under neath the Odairi-sama and Ohina-sama is where the three court ladies are displayed. They are called San-nin-kanjo(さんにんかんじょ、３人官女). The third tier holds the five male musicians each holding a musical equipment except the singer who has fan in his hand.  They are called Gonin-bayashi(ごにんばやし、五人囃子）

There is this special song that girls in Japan sing when it gets closer to March 3rd, called Ureshii-hinamatsuri (うれしいひなまつり). This is such a traditional song to sing for Hinamatsuri, so I would like to share with you.

Although Hinamatsuri is not a national holiday in Japan, they also have another special day for children, this time mainly for boys. It is called “Children’s Day(こどものひ、子供の日) on May 5th every year.  Children’s Day is a national holiday in Japan, and I will be writing about the special holiday in May.