Hinamatsuri

On their way to pick up their son in China, my dad and Georgie had a short layover in Japan, which they extended for a few days. They happened to be here on March 3rd, which in Japan is Girl’s Day. It is called Hinamatsuri, which means doll’s festival. Near one on my schools in Kada, there is a famous shrine dedicated to dolls and figurines (I had a post about it a while ago). Many people come to this shrine, Awashimajinja, to pray for the health of their children and watch the ceremony. It is believed that when girls play with their dolls, their soul is connected to it, so you can’t just throw it away. So many people give their childhood dolls to this shrine for the ceremony. There is also a ceremony for used sewing needles, but on a different day.
The priest started off by saying a prayer and swishing a horse-hair-looking thing about his head. Then some young women who work at the shrine held up individual dolls for all of us to admire before they loaded each one into a small wooden boat. The boats were then carried, by women only, to the ocean nearby. The boats were set down on the dock and the priest said another swishy prayer. The shrine ladies scattered paper cranes into the ocean where the water touched the dock, and the boats were set afloat. A group of pre-school girls sang a song and waved goodbye to the dolls as they floated away on the tiny boats.
When I first heard of this ceremony last year, I imagined the sea floor full of sunken boats surrounded by millions of dolls. Quite scary. But we were told that the boats are led out toward one of the islands off the coast, collected, and the dolls burned.
My friend, Akemi, came out with us, and even though she is older than me, she had never been to this festival. We all enjoyed being together on this special day. And for everybody who has visited me, Kada has been their favorite city in Japan. I guess because of it’s quaintness and personality. It seems like what “old” Japan would have been like. On our walk back to the train station, we passed a small shop selling agepan (fried bread). It was like a malasada (Portuguese donut) filled with anko (azuki beans). I must have been in Japan too long because it was delicious! I usually don’t care for azuki beans. But I guess everything tastes better deep-fried right?