2 In the pretty little seaside hotel Inaba-ya, where I lived during
my stay in Kitzuki, the kind old hostess begged her guests with almost
tearful earnestness not to leave the house during the Minige.
3 There are ten rin to one sen, and ten mon to one rin, on one hundred
to one sen. The majority of the cheap toys sold at the matsuri cost from
two to nine rin. The rin is a circular copper coin with a square hole in
the middle for stringing purposes.
4 Why the monkey is so respectfully mentioned in polite speech, I do not
exactly know; but I think that the symbolical relation of the monkey,
both to Buddhism and to Shinto, may perhaps account for the use of the
prefix 'O' (honourable) before its name.
5 As many fine dolls really are. The superior class of O-Hina-San, such
as figure in the beautiful displays of the O-Hina-no-Matsuri at rich
homes, are heirlooms. Dolls are not given to children to break; and
Japanese children seldom break them. I saw at a Doll's Festival in the
house of the Governor of Izumo, dolls one hundred years old--charming
figurines in ancient court costume.