Yusoku-bina
Seven-tiers/fifteen dolls
Celebratory Display for Girls
Yusoku Hina Ningyo Dolls
- Yusoku-binaSeven-tiers/fifteen dolls
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- Size:
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- Width137cm
- Depth173cm
- Height187cm
- Prices shown here are those of our stores in Japan.
- Please check our inventory before placing an order.
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Hina Matsuri Festival and Hina Ningyo Dolls
In Japan, the traditional Hina Matusri Festival is held on March 3rd to wish for girls’ happiness. Before and during this festival, families with girls display Hina dolls in their homes. This tradition dates back more than 1200 years to the Heian Period (794-1180). In those days princesses and peeresses of the Imperial Court enjoyed playing with dolls. There was also a ritual held in early March to wish for the happiness of young girls, using a doll as talisman to protect them against evil. Combined, these have become the Hina Matsuri Festival of today. The present style of their display was established during the Edo Period (1603-1867). The most elaborate Hina doll display today consists of seven-tiers, and there are also more compact versions of five-, three-, two- and single-tier displays available.
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What is Yusoku?
In the Imperial Court of the Heian Period, precise protocol was stipulated in minute detail regarding every event and ceremony concerning costume, furniture, utensils, drinking and dinning etc. As it was regarded as extremely embarrassing to fail to observe these rules, the nobility of those days documented them in every detail and handed them down from generation to generation. Such records became the source for the traditional culture of Kyoto, and are called ‘yusoku’, literally meaning ‘possessing knowledge’. Hina dolls ‘born’ in Kyoto have been crafted based on such knowledge and are therefore called Yusoku Hina dolls.
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Yusoku Hina Doll Displays
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Dairi-bina (Emperor and Empress)
In a Yusoku Hina doll display, the Kyoto style is adopted in which the seat on the right side when facing the dolls is superior.
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Sannin-kanjo (three court ladies)
Female servants who read poems and played musical instruments while tending the Empress.
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Gonin-bayashi (five musicians)
Sitting in the same order as the noh theater accompaniment; (from right to left) a vocalist, tsuzumi drummer, flutist, okawa drummer and taiko drummer, the musicians consist of sons of the nobility.
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Zuishin (court guards)
Guards for the Emperor; Sakon-e soldier at the right and Ukon-e soldier at the left when facing the dolls. The Sakon-e soldier is superior.
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Jicho (servants)
Servants for miscellaneous duties. A cherry tree is displayed on their left and a mandarin orange tree on their right, imitating those at the Hall for State Ceremonies in the Old Imperial Palace.
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Ozen-soroe (a meal set)
Colors of lozenge-shaped rice cakes to expel evil spirits, mugwort in kusamochi rice cake to purge poisonous air, and white sake made from peach to invite happiness.
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Odogu-soroe (a set of furniture/utensils)
The set including tea ceremony utensils, sewing box, dresser, hibachis, oblong chests and chest of draws is displayed on the sixth tier, and a court ox-drawn carriage, tier of boxes and court palanquin on the seventh tier.
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