Hinamatsuri

Hinamatsuri is a doll festival. It is celebrated by families with daughters on March 3. They display gorgeous dolls on a stepped shelf to express the wish for their daughters' good health and growth. The dolls represent people who lived in the Heian court. There is an empress and an emperor on the top shelf. Three ladies of the court are on the second. Five court musicians are on the third. Two escorts are on the fourth. Three guards are on the fifth. On the sixth and seventh shelves there are many things which represent what an empress brings to the court when she marries an emperor. Diamond-shaped rice cakes, sweets and white Japanese rice wine are also displayed and eaten on that day. These dolls are gifted to a girl by her mother's parents.