Small rural town activates itself with Hina Matsuri doll festival

Feb. 28, 2010

Small rural town activates itself with Hina Matsuri doll festival

The 300-year-old former village headman’s residence becomes the theater of a traditional “Hina Matsuri” festival from February to March with hundreds of special dolls displayed to the public. The doll festival, organized by Kaisei Town with a population of 16,000, attracts about 20,000 visitors to the dominantly farming region every year. During the three-week festival, members of the local women’s club are busy cleaning the residence and preparing special dolls and other items to be displayed before receiving visitors.
The oldest of the special dolls are those preserved by the Seto family, the former owner of the straw-roofed residence, whose origin goes back to the 17th century early in the Edo era. Other dolls, made in the Meiji era or later periods, have been contributed by other families of the town. They are displayed along with many colorful hanging decorations of lucky items, which are handmade by members of the women’s club. “We have about 20 sets of special dolls contributed and over 7,000 items of hanging decorations,” a women’s club member said. “There are also some dolls in the warehouse, because we cannot display all of them right here.”
The special dolls for the Hina Matsuri festival include a pair of dolls representing the Emperor and the Empress, which is placed atop of five- or seven-tier alters covered with red carpet. Placed beneath them are the three court ladies, the five court musicians and the ministers of the left and the right. Also on display are miniature pieces of furniture, including “bonbori” paper-covered lanterns, and fake foods like lozenge-shaped colored rice cakes.

Let’s light up the “bonbori” lanterns,
let’s offer peach flowers at the alter,
flutes and drums played by the five musicians.
Let’s have fun with the Hina Matsuri dolls today.

The Emperor and Empress dolls,
sitting side by side with straight faces,
the white faced court lady is
just like my married elder sister.

The spring breeze gently sways the flickering light
on the golden folding screen.
The Minister of the Right has a red face.
He must be drunk with rice malt sake.

Changing clothes and tying obi sashes,
today, I will also be dressed in all my finery,
for this special day of March,
for the Hina Matsuri festival, lovelier than anything else.
(A personal translation)

This is a children’s song which is frequently heard toward early March. The song, made in the 1930s, is in a minor key but it has been loved for its gentle melody not only by children but also by many women.
The Hina Matsuri festival is usually observed on the third day of March. The fest is based on a practice which dates back to the Heian period of the 10th to 12th centuries, in which people transferred their sin and misfortune to small paper dolls and floated them down the river. Combined with a doll play among girls at noble families, the practice developed into a festival in later periods to wish for young girls’ good health and happiness. The event is also called the Feast of Peach Blossoms, because it comes when peach blossoms start to bloom.
The Hina Matsuri doll display at Kaisei Town is one of many newly launched events in various parts of Japan in order to demonstrate each region’s attractive features in historical and traditional terms. The town can be reached by about an hour of train ride from Tokyo.
The doll festival at the Seto family residence began only five years ago. But enthusiasm among local people, particularly members of the women’s club, about displaying their life and culture through the event suggests that the fest will continue to attract far more people than the town's population in the years ahead. The special dolls will be displayed until March 7 this year.

Ume Japanese apricot heralds spring in chilly weather

Feb. 20, 2010

Ume Japanese apricot heralds spring in chilly weather


Japanese apricot, or “ume” plum trees are beginning to bloom in Tokyo and neighboring regions, though the mercury shows no signs of going up. The season’s second accumulation of snow was observed in the central part of Tokyo this week as a low-pressure system packing cold air stayed over the Kanto region. Streets near the Gaien gardens outside the Imperial Palace compounds were covered with a thin layer of snow early Thursday, inconveniencing people walking to their workplace. The snowfall also forced a delay in the opening of a trial at a district court in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, because two lay judges were unable to be there on time.
Enduring cold weather, ume plum trees begin to bloom as the hours of sunshine get longer. Ume blossoms are less brilliant than "sakura" cherry blossoms, Japan's most favored flower in terms of its traditional culture. But ume charmed ancient people with its fragrance, which spreads elegantly in chilly, humid air in early spring. They were also impressed by the dignified atmosphere the style of the ume trees gives off.
Ume plum blossoms were loved by waka poets from the ancient times as a flower that signals the arrival of spring before other flowers.

Let’s get the scent of plum blossoms
to be carried with the messenger of the breeze
so it may be a guide
that lures bush warblers out of the valley.
(A personal translation)

This is a poem composed by Ki Tomonori, one of the editors of Japan’s second oldest waka poem anthology Kokinwakashu. Ume is the first flower that appears in the spring section of the poem anthology, compiled in the 10th century. Bush warblers were also believed to be a bird which heralds spring. Ume plum trees were imported from China, but they were admired by ancient people so that it came to be seen as Japan’s indigenous flower.
In warmer areas, people enjoy plum blossom viewing parties from early February. But ume trees are just budding in Tokyo and its vicinity. The temperature remains far below 10 degrees centigrade in Tokyo, but the budding ume trees brighten up people's heart, telling them that spring is just around the corner with various new lives poised to be born.

Lunar New Year’s events at Chinatown cheer up Yokohama

Feb. 14, 2010

Lunar New Year’s events at Chinatown cheer up Yokohama

February is the hottest season of the year for residents of the Yokohama Chinatown, with various traditional events held for the lunar New Year’s holidays. Since the lunar New Year’s Day, “Chunjie” in Chinese, fell on Sunday this year, the town attracted more visitors than usual.

The Yokohama Chinatown, with an area of 0.2 square kilometer, accommodates more than 500 shops, including about 200 Chinese restaurants and over 50 ethnic food and souvenir shops.
Visitors and tourists flocked to the Chinatown Sunday aiming to take a look at lion dance performances, one of the most attractive events for the New Year’s period. “We divide into four groups. We’re gonna call at about 50 shops each today,” a performer said. Each group has a pair of dance performers holding the mask and body of the lion and four to five musicians. They perform lion dances on drum beats at the entrance of the shops praying for a success of their business for the New Year.
The Yokohama Chinatown, the largest in East Asia, is hemmed by 10 Chinese-style gates. The largest of them, the Goodwill Gate, stands at the busiest corner in the town. Every street in the area was filled with so many visitors that it was very hard for vehicles and shoppers to pass. Trying to maintain order among the crowd, a staffer shouted, “Don’t push, please. You don’t need to hurry. We have many more performances until evening.”
Yokohama, Japan’s second largest city, was a small fishing village until the middle of the 19th century, when it was turned into a port for commerce with other countries toward the end of the Edo period. The opening of the port triggered an inflow of many foreigners, including immigrants and merchants from China, who started their business at a quarter of the designated foreign settlement area. The community of ethnic Chinese, mainly from Guangzhou, was relatively small at the initial stage. The community underwent turbulent years as Japan and China fought two wars from the late 19th century to the 1940s, but it has grown into one of the biggest tourist spots in Yokohama.
The year 2009 was the 150th anniversary of the opening of the port at Yokohama. The city held a big exposition at a portside area in commemoration of the anniversary from April to September last year, but the number of visitors to the event fell far short of the target of five million. The disappointing result was attributed mainly to an allegedly inappropriate project concept, but it also reflected weak consumer sentiment amid Japan’s economic slump. The series of New Year’s events at the Yokohama Chinatown has helped dispel the bearish economic mood and spirit up people's mind.