Nara
Culture

Feb 13, 2014 - 1 min read

Doll Festival in Takatori-cho

Village of the dolls

By Cathy Cawood

Community writer

The doll with the red face has been drinking!

Large and ornate Hinamatsuri display

One of the male Hinamatsuri dolls

This Hinamatsuri display has a gold screen behind the emperor and empress

The kettle is always on for tea

The dolls represent members of the Heian imperial court

This doll is wearing the twelve-layer kimono of the Heian era

Beautiful old room full of treasures

This barber was telling the story of Momotaro to his captive audience

I think this is an antique shop

A crumbling house in the village

Rural Takatori-cho is surrounded by countryside

A posse of scooters cruise down Takatori-cho's main street

Doll with ornate head-dress

March 3rd is Hinamatsuri, or girls' day. To celebrate this festival, households with daughters set up elaborate displays of dolls. If you'd like to read about the dolls, there is a good article on Wikipedia. The village of Takatori-cho in Nara celebrates this festival for the whole month of March. Many homes and even businesses set up doll displays, some of them very old, and open their homes to the public. I enjoyed the doll displays very much, but I also really appreciated the friendliness of the local people, and the opportunity to get a glimpse inside some of the lovely old houses.

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Cathy Cawood

By Cathy Cawood

Community writer

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