Hina-dolls in Kasuisai Temple

The Doll Festival is coming soon. It is held on March 3 every year to pray for healthy growth of girls with a set of hina-dolls displayed at home. The most typical set consists of the imperial pair, three court ladies, five musicians, two guardians, three servants, furniture, etc. When a daughter born in a family, it is often the girl’s grandparents on mother’s side who present her with such dolls. But it depends on families.

In addition to families, many museums and sightseeing spots have exhibitions of hina-dolls at this time of year. Kasuisai Temple in Fukuroi (about 17-minute train ride from Hamamatsu) has one of the largest collections of hina-dolls in Japan. Their exhibition started from the beginning of January, and now they have some other interesting things to see. Last week, I visited there and had a very good time.

It takes about 40 minutes from JR Fukuroi Station to Kasuisai Temple on foot. This time I could take a bus immediately after arriving at the station, though there is only one bus an hour. It took about 10 minutes to get to the bus stop “Entrance of Kasuisai.” The first hina-dolls I saw were those sitting on the stone stairs to the temple. Though I had heard about it before, I was surprised at the sight.

Along the corridors of the temple, there were dolls of imperial pairs.

Some of them had gorgeous hair ornaments.

Some were enjoying tea.

This is a princess from a Japanese classic “The Tale of Genji.”

Court ladies were also elegant.

I liked this comical doll of a servant.

They looked cute with pink and white rice cakes in front of them.

The highlight of the exhibition is these 1,200 dolls on 32 steps. It was awesome. The room itself was splendid with the beautiful design of the ceiling.

On the opposite side of the room, ceremonial kimono in actual size were displayed. The women’s kimono has twelve layers. I imagined it was heavy to wear.

The men’s kimono is much simpler.

This is a set of traditional hanging lucky charms called “Kasafuku (literally means umbrella luck)” from Sakata in Yamagata Prefecture. There are as many as 999 pieces and made by 12 people.

Turtles for a long life, gourds for good health, balls, patchworks, etc. They were so colorful.

Even the garden of the temple had a festive atmosphere. They had dolls outside as well. There are five musicians.

A knight on a white horse like in European folktales?

I think this pair may be the most romantic of all. It looked like a scene from a love story.

You may wonder why a temple has so many hina-dolls or where the dolls came from. As I explained, girls were given hina-dolls when they were born. After they have grown up, the role of the dolls for protecting the girls is over. They are brought to a temple or shrine for a memorial service and burned there. Many people treat their hina-dolls carefully as if they had souls and don’t dare to discard them directly. The dolls in Kasuisai Temple may have been such dolls. Each of them had its individual characteristics and a presence.

Until March 15, Kasuisai Temple provides a special vegetarian set for the Doll Festival. It should be reserved by more than one person in advance. It costs 3000 yen and more expensive than other seasonal sets. I couldn’t eat it, but they will have Peony Festival in their peony garden from April to May, and I think they will have another seasonal set then. Even now, they have an indoor peony exhibition, but the flowers were less beautiful than before. So, I’ll show you a picture taken in January. Kasuisai Temple is a great culture spot with events and beautiful interior decoration of the temple itself.