Today is Girls' Day and for the past couple weeks doll displays have been set up in homes all over Japan.I'm afraid our family never acquired this lovely display of the Emperor and Empress and all their consorts, musicians and attendants plus all the doll sized implements needed in a traditional palace. Too expensive for one thing and the whole set takes too much space to store during the year (and takes up a quarter of a room when on display!)
This display is set up in the kindergarten and the principal said she was given this exquisite display years ago specifically to use at the kindergarten. I was surprised that she was willing to take the risk of setting the dolls up where there are about 100 kids playing in this room. A stray inside ball could easily break a fragile doll, but they want the children to learn how to be careful around valuables I suppose.
Can you tell that this is a different Girls' Day display? This display was set up at my neighbor's house and I asked to take its picture when I was shown her ikebana arrangement last week. You can see how similar the two are and how the arrangements of the dolls and knick-knacks are set up the same. Maybe the Emperor and Empress are a little more elaborately dressed in the kindergarten display... I think my neighbor's is not as old as the kindergarten's and she said all the doll "furniture" was made of plastic whereas the older displays are all of lacquered wood.
And here is my only acknowledgement of Girls' Day this year. A little quilt I made when Leiya was a baby. It certainly doesn't take up much room and wasn't expensive to make either!
12 comments:
Girl's Day seems like a very happy time to celebrate. I love the costumes and all of the displays. I will put my display card out also tomorrow and think about you...Your little girl quilt is beautiful.
Thanks for sharing so much!
Liz
I love your little quilt! It's darling.
Hope you enjoyed Girl's Day.
Your little quilt is adorable.
I really enjoy learning about all the different Japanese customs from reading your blog. It's very interesting.
Thank you for sharing about the customs in Japan. We always enjoy coming over and reading your lovely entries.
We're going to research more about the dolls on Girl's Day. (^_^)
Love,
Nermal, Nico, Virgil, Westley, and Maggie
Love your girl day quilt. I have that pattern and have always wanted to make it...just one more idea to do someday! Thanks for your wonderful and insightful postings!
No doubt the big displays are wonderful and awe-inspiring, but I much prefer your own little girl quilt.
Great post, I had no idea such a day was observed in Japan. Is there a "boy's day" too? The doll displays are amazing.
Happy Girls day! Those displays are fabulous. Since I easily tire of putting out and putting away Christmas decorations, I think I probably wouldn't be putting those out every year if I had them, especially since the arrangement looks like it traditionally has to be put in that particular order.
Maybe it is time for you to make a whole quilt out of the display? It would take up less room.
Shasta had a great idea! An applique quilt depicting the display from top to bottom would be fabulous! I think a quilt is a much cosier idea. Besides, I wouldn't trust myself (or Molly-cat) around that many breakables.
Your little quilt is darling.
Thanks for giving us such fascinating information about Japan.
Do many households have the whole Girl's Day display? I assume your house is fairly typical for a Japanese dwelling and you said you don't have room. How do homes that have these kinds of things store them? I was comparing all of the delicate items to my Christmas village, and when that's packed up it takes up a third of a 5 foot wide closet. Maybe you've stumbled on a money making idea - bring rented storage like the U-Store-It company to Japan! LOL
I love the dolls, & I love your little Doll Quilt!
Gom has a little collection of Japanese dolls. He loves all things Japanese.
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