| -> | | | | The fourth tier holds two ministers. The Right |
| Every March 3rd, the third day of the third | | | | Minister is made up to look like a young person |
| month, is the day families all over Japan make a | | | | while the Left Minister is a much older man. Each |
| celebration for their daughter(s) so she may grow | | | | minister has arrows on his back while holding a |
| up healthy, happy, and beautiful. This special day is | | | | bow and also wears a sword at the waist. |
| known as Japanese Girls' Day (Hina Matsuri). To | | | | Tier Five: |
| make it even more special, it is also called the | | | | The fifth tier contains three helpers whose job it |
| Japanese Doll Festival. Hina Matsuri became legally | | | | is to keep the palace spotlessly clean. They have |
| approved by the Japanese government in 1687. | | | | in their hands cleaning tools such as brooms, |
| The parents or grandparents of a newborn baby | | | | dustpans, and rakes. |
| girl should present her with a set of intricately | | | | The last one or two tiers give space to display |
| beautiful hina dolls at her first Hina Matsuri. These | | | | miniature furniture such as dressing tables, |
| dolls are proudly passed down from generation to | | | | workboxes, or a chest of drawers. There might |
| generation. | | | | be toy trees so fanciful they can be bedecked |
| A few days prior to Hina Matsuri, mothers and | | | | with semiprecious stones. |
| daughters take these traditional dolls with all their | | | | Japanese girls wear kimonos for Hina Matsuri. |
| accouterment (miniature furniture, etc.) and set up | | | | They often invite other girls to a home party to |
| a display that may have as many as seven tiers. | | | | share in the celebration. Party food might consist |
| The tiers are covered with a red cloth or carpet. | | | | of sushi, clam soup, sweet pink rice cakes, and |
| Each tier has its own specified hina hierarchy. | | | | colorful rice crackers. Pink stands for the peach |
| Tier One: | | | | flower (Hina Matsuri is sometimes called |
| The first tier (or top row) is reserved for two | | | | Momo-no-Sekku or festival of the flowers of the |
| dolls, the Emperor and Empress. The Emperor | | | | peach tree). White stands for cleanliness (snow) |
| carries the tool ladle to straighten dignity and the | | | | and green represents health (new growth in the |
| Empress wears many layers of colorful kimonos | | | | earth). The girls also drink ama-zake, a rice wine |
| and holds a fan. A gold folding screen is, as a rule, | | | | with no alcoholic content. |
| placed in back of the royal couple. | | | | It is a firmly believed superstition in Japan that the |
| Tier Two: | | | | hina doll display must be put away as soon as |
| The second tier makes space for three ladies of | | | | possible after March 3rd or else the girl might |
| the court, serving sake to the Emperor and | | | | have to wait to get married. Some believe there |
| Empress, as well as Japanese rice cakes. | | | | will be no marriage at all. |
| Tier Three: | | | | Centuries ago, people in Japan were of the solid |
| Five male musicians are placed on the third tier. | | | | opinion that the dolls had the power to contain |
| Sometimes, the dolls are presented as four | | | | evil. They would set straw hina dolls in a boat and |
| instrumentalists, holding traditional Japanese musical | | | | send them off to sea, in the hope that trouble or |
| instruments such as a whistle, small drum, large | | | | evil would float away with them. Now, there is a |
| drum, etc., plus one singer. | | | | show of ecological awareness; the hina are |
| Tier Four: | | | | created with environmentally-friendly fish food. |