Here is the "Hina Matsuri", from Japan. Every figure and item has a
precise location which has remained
unaltered for centuries.
Leslie came back with a prompt answer - look at the bottom of page 137 and continuing pages, of "A History of Dolls Houses" by Flora Gill Jacobs. Imagine my surprise at finding the author's picture of her late 19th century Japanese Doll Festival or Hina Matsuri - the dolls were almost identical to mine! Even the musical instruments were similar including both the little tambourine players holding their tambourines up over their right shoulders!
Hina Matsuri is the Japanese Doll Festival or Girls' Festival which is celebrated March 3rd of every year. The tradition at this time is to pray to the gods for the safety and happiness of the daughters in the Japanese families. In ancient times, Japanese believed that on January 1st, March 3rd, May 5th, July 7th and September 9th they could drive evil spirits out of their bodies and gain protection from misfortune by rubbing dolls of grass and paper. These festival days were called "sekku" and the 3rd of March gradually became the most popular day to carry out the ceremony. At first these dolls were thrown into a river after the ceremony but as time went on, they were kept as ornaments gradually becoming more elaborate. Little girls of wealthy families used to make and display dolls called "hina" (something small and beautiful). As this became more widespread, miniature furniture, food, flower arrangements, etc. were added and the collection was placed in a special cabinet or miniature shrine. This festival became a national institution in the 18th century when a Togugawa Shogun presented to all his many daughters (he had many wives) a ritualistic collection of dolls and furniture.
Today, daughters are given dolls, furniture and many elaborate household objects by their family and relatives on their first March 3rd. These are displayed to encourage ancestor worship and to pray that their daughters will grow up healthy, happy, beautiful and virtuous. When the festival is over, the Hina Matsuri is put away until the next March 3rd.
The Hina Matsuri is a court scene in which the figures are arranged on five or seven tiers or shelves ... but arranged in a specific order. My Hina Matsuri has five tiers with ritualistic arrangements on the different shelves.
On the top level sit the court noble and his lady or Emperor and Empress ... the Dairi Bina ... the emperor always to the left of the Empress. There is always a golden screen behind each figure and a lamp at each end of the shelf.
The next shelf holds the Ladies in Waiting ... "Kwanjo", with their lacquer tables holding diamond shaped, brightly coloured pink, white and green layered rice cakes.
The third shelf holds the five court musicians, "Gonin-bayashi", always in the same order ... a singer, a flute player, a drummer and two with tambourines.
Then come the two Imperial Guards ... "Zuijin", the head of the military and the chief magistrate.
The lower shelf contains household items, two flowering miniature cherry and orange trees and three household servants ... one holds a long handled parasol. The second one holds the Emperor's shoes on an unpainted wooden tray and the third servant carries the Emperor's wrapped hat on a long staff. Thanks to a workshop given by the Culhams, I now have the necessary dishes of food for this tier and the flower arrangements which are supposed to be beside the Emperor and Empress.
At this point, some collections become very elaborate and contain many family treasures to be brought out and displayed only on March 3rd. Some of the cabinets become so elaborate that they are really small temples and palaces; however these still always retain the same traditional positioning of the figures despite how ornate the shrine becomes.
You can see that through my garage sale "find", I have discovered and studied a cultural festival from another country dating back to the 900's. Without my Hina Matsuri I probably would never have done much more than just read casually about it and then pass on to something else!
Ancient Egyptians believed that life here on Earth was preparation for life after death - a continuation of the life they had lived on Earth. For this reason, the wealthy wished to take many of their treasures and servants with them. Of course space in their tombs would not allow this so small replicas of the treasures, servants, houses, gardens, etc. were placed in the tombs to please their masters in their after life. The richer you were, the more elaborate were the settings and models.
A team of archeologists from the U.S.A., in 1920, unearthed what is believed to be the world’s oldest miniature settings. These miniatures were found in the tomb of Meket-re an Egyptian nobleman who lived 4,000 years ago. Imagine their excitement when the first thing they saw after breaking into a well disguised chamber, was a cattle inspection station! Men, boats, oxen and shed all were in excellent condition. All the models are made of wood - some of the figures are brightly painted and some are dressed in linen - still intact after all these centuries!
Among the models in Meket-re’s tomb are a house and walled garden, scribes recording an inventory of oxen, a butcher shop where a boiling cauldron of blood can be seen. There are a bakery, a brewery, a granary and a carpenter’s shop. In the weaving shed, the women are spinning thread and weaving cloth from linen fiber which is still intact! There are many other treasures too numerous to mention.
What a wonderful glimpse into a long ago world! What a bonanza for history students! It seems a shame to me that this wonderful little world that has been together for so long a time has now been divided. Half the settings are in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the rest are in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Down through the years, miniatures have played a more or less important part in various cultures. Many Indian Tribes have their miniatures often to teach Tribe customs, etc. An example is the Kachina doll of the Hopi in the South West. In London, England, at the time of the Black Death, a miniature rocking chair was found among other play things, in the grave of a young girl. Interestingly, this settled the argument as to who first had the rocking chair. Obviously it was not Colonial America as was always thought!
The “Baby Houses” of the 16th and 17th centuries, furnished and cared for by wealthy ladies, leading eventually into dolls houses for children, miniature houses and miniatures for collectors and miniature craftspeople, have kept this an ongoing hobby - perhaps the oldest ongoing hobby . . . . just 4,000 years old!
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Last Updated October 3, 1998 by Mary Harris