Hinamatsuri: from a Scapegoating Ritual to Popular Tradition
5 minutes read
Dreams (1990), Akira Kurosawa. © Akira Kurosawa © Warner Bros
‘Hinamatsuri is a Festival held during the peach season!’
‘If you cut down those trees, what’s in a Hinamatsuri?’
Lapidary words spoken by angered spirits as they disapprove of merchants cutting down peach trees. Such was Akira Kurosawa depiction of Hina dolls in the second short of his collection Dreams (1990). For the legendary director it was obvious that Hinamatsuri 雛祭り (also known as ‘Doll’s Day’) was a spring festival celebrating peach trees, and his message to the audience is quite clear: ‘modernism has destroyed tradition’. However, is this Hinamatsuri that old of a tradition?
The origin – A scapegoating and purificatory ritual
The foundation of modern Hinamatsuri lays in a cleansing ritual imported from China during the early Heian period (794–1185), a time when the recently formed Japanese realm was structuring itself, looking to the continent. Mi no hi no harae (day of the snake exorcism) was a ritual held during a nefarious day, jōshi 上巳 the first day of the snake in the third month, corresponding to early spring season. It was meant to drive away the evil influences and cleanse the spiritual defilement (kegare 穢れ) by transferring one’s pollution to a paper crafted doll that was later thrown either in a river or in the sea, as flowing water had a purificatory function.
This ritual was a prerogative of the imperial court, as many other spiritual activities, and soon became an occasion for aristocrats to hold banquets, thus becoming dubbed The Meandering Stream Banquet (Kyokusui no en). Coincidentally, the third day of the third lunar month was also established as the Peach Day (Momo no hi), a seasonal ritual celebrating spring. This was the first connection between the cleansing ritual, peach trees and dolls, referred to with the adjective ‘hiina’ meaning ‘small and lovely’.
Scene from the illustrated scroll of the Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari Emaki) credited to Tosa Mitsutoki (1617–1691)
Similar exorcism practices are mentioned in the Tale of Genji, the oldest Japanese novel written at the peak of Heian culture (11th century), as one of the nobles throws a doll-like object into a river to cleanse himself. Several other writings of the epoch, mainly diaries of noble women, mention court activities called hina-asobi, where young ladies played with dolls depicting boys and girls. It is very likely that those plays influenced what came to be known as the Hinamatsuri, or Peach Festival (Momo no sekku), held during the Muromachi period (1336–1573).
Utagawa Kunisada 1847 – 1852. A doll couple with slender eyebrows like peach blossoms (雛女夫桃の細眉)
Credit: Museum of Fine Arts Boston
The first codification of this festival happened at that time, as dolls were no longer thrown away but displayed, since they progressively became considered fine-art crafts. Displaying dolls meant elaborating a narrative, hence presenting them as a couple of court nobles. At the same time, a series of practices started to merge, becoming the backbone of the Hinamatsuri tradition. An example of this is the habit of eating kusamochi, a rice cake prepared by mixing leaves of mugwort with pounded rice, as it was believed that the scent of the grass had the power to ward off evil, making it the best meal to accompany an early spring cleansing ritual.
Structuring the core tradition of Hinamatsuri
Over the centuries Hinamatsuri gained in popularity, as many were exposed, to some extent, to the cultural products influenced by the imperial court. First came the warrior class, who unseated political power from the nobility and subsequently sought after their cultural refinement. Appearance was an important factor in the social life of the Edo period (1603–1868) and Hinamatsuri was among the practices adopted to showcase wealth, for the joy of wholesalers and doll makers. It did not take long for the wealthy merchants to adopt this practice, as it offered them a good opportunity to surpass the prestige of the elites, displaying even more wealth. The prolonged period of relative peace and political stability allowed Hinamatsuri culture to prosper: crafting styles and concepts became more sophisticated as social classes were now duelling with their wealth rather than their weapons.
Torii Kiyonaga 1795–1796. Plays of the five seasons festivals (子宝五節遊)
This festival was such a common and refined practice that Matsuo Bashō mentioned it in the opening of ‘Oku no Hosomichi’ his collection of haikus:
草の戸も 住み替はる代ぞ 雛の家
kusa no to mo Even a thatched hut
sumikawaru yo zo May change with a new owner
hina no ie Into a doll’s house.
Ed. and trans. Earl Miner. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969
By the 19th century all social strata participated in Hinamatsuri. While the upper classes battled with their ever-growing displays, exhibiting fine-arts dolls with clothing and precious metals, the lower classes prepared doll-looking object with modest materials and designs.
Keisai Eisen 1790–1848. Dolls (人形) from the series ‘Eight Favorite Things in the Modern World’ 当世好物八景.
Credit: Museum of Fine Arts Boston
The Classical period was of great influence for Edo cultural productions. For this reason, a tradition like Hinamatsuri, thought to be as old as Japan, was naturally associated with the imagery of the imperial court. The centrepiece of every display, even the most modest ones, was the imperial couple (Daibirina): the lord doll (Odairi-sama) and the lady doll (Ohina-sama), which are often mistaken for the Emperor and the Empress. In fact, as a representation of the Heian aristocracy, Hinamatsuri was not crafted to be a symbol of imperialism, even if nowadays this misinterpretation is becoming more common. The ‘standard’ seven-layer altar display is also a tradition that was implemented during the Edo period as a way to showcase even more objects.
Several displays of Hina dolls. Credit: Marty Borsotti
This is how the Hinamatsuri display was born, ruled by the imperial couple that lonely rests on its upper layer. The sole fact of them appearing in front of us is a reason to hold a festival. But aristocrats never appear alone, and that is why three servant maidens (san’nin kanjo) are busy preparing their offerings on the second shelf. Their resemblance to modern shrine maidens is not a coincidence, as both share the same origin within the servants of the imperial court apparatus. Since, as mentioned, the appearance of the couple is a merry event, five musicians (goninbayashi) join the display within the third shelf, to bring joy and entertain with their music and songs. Aristocrats rhyme with offerings, which are attended to by their ministries (zuijin) charged with the task to protect and consecrate them on the fourth floor. They guard the imperial couple and the rice offerings laid at the centre of the shelf, which are represented by three-coloured cakes. Three footmen (shichō) come at the fifth floor, carrying various pieces of furniture for the comfort of the couple, such as pillows and umbrellas. Finally, the bottom shelves are used to display other pieces of furniture and precious objects, such as a palanquin used by the couple to not be seen when travelling around. To this core display several other optional figures may be added, such as pages (sandaichigo) attending the needs of the imperial court, beautiful women inspired by stunning courtesans (bijin ningyō) and even court ladies playing with their pets.
This gathering has been the object of many interpretations. Some suggest that it represents a wedding celebration for a girl marrying into a noble family, while others opt for a more neutral approach, considering it the representation of a festive day at the imperial court, resembling their banquets.
A display of Hina dolls held inside a shopping mall. Credit: Luigi Zeni
Carefully dusted by the third day of the third month (nowadays March 3rd), Hina dolls were considered to be temporarily inhabited by benevolent spirits while on display. Their visits protected the girls of a household and purified it from accumulated defilement. This is how the adoption process of what was once a scapegoating ritual imported from China became a Japanese popular tradition.
As a conclusion, one may say that Kurosawa was not wrong in depicting Hinamatsuri as a traditional practice needing shelter from the irrationality of modern economy. But the importance of wealth in conveying this practice to the next generations might have surprised even the so-called Emperor of the Japanese film industry.
Written by Marty Borsotti