THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS
On the third day of the third month there is great excitement in every
Japanese household which numbers a girl among its domestic treasures: for
the Feast of Dolls has come, the great festival for dolls. On this day the
most beautiful dolls and dolls' houses are fetched from the godown, where
the family furniture is kept, and are on exhibition for a short time, set
out on shelves covered with scarlet cloth.
[Illustration: FIGHTING TOPS]
These dolls are the O-Hina, the honourable dolls. They are kept with the
greatest care, and in some families there are dolls which are centuries
old. As each doll is dressed exactly in the costume of its age, and is
furnished with belongings which represent in miniature the furniture of
that age, such a collection has great historic value, and is used to teach
the children how their ancestors looked and lived.
There are common dolls for the little girls to play with every day, but
these elaborate ones, the honourable dolls, are stored with the greatest
care. Many of them are very costly. The doll is not only beautifully made
and dressed, but its house is furnished with the most exact imitations of
every article of furniture and of every utensil. In wealthy families this
toy furniture is made of the rarest gold lacquer, or of solid silver,
or of beautiful porcelain. Not a single article, either of state or of
usefulness, is missing, and it is the delight of a Japanese girl at the
Feast of Dolls to use the tiny utensils of her toy kitchen to prepare an
elaborate feast of real food which is set before her honourable dolls.
The beginning of a collection of such dolls is made as soon as a girl is
born. Every girl-child is presented with a pair of these dolls, and as time
goes on she gathers all the articles which go with them. These dolls are
always her own. When she marries she takes them to her new home.
When the O-Hina Matsuri, the Feast of Dolls, draws near, the Japanese shops
begin to be full of the little images used at that time. The poorer are of
painted earthenware; the finer are of wood, with clothes of the richest
materials. These images, together with tiny bowls, and pots, and stoves,
and trays, are used to set off and decorate the surroundings of the Feast
of Dolls. They vary very greatly in price. The coolie household may have
a set-out which cost a few pence. The O-Hina of a great noble's house
will often be worth a fortune, having hundreds of beautifully carved and
dressed images to represent the Emperor and Empress and every official of
the Japanese Court, with every article used for State functions, and every
piece of furniture needed to deck a royal palace. Other sets of O-Hina
represent great personages in Japanese history, perhaps a great Daimio and
his followers, each figure dressed with strict historical accuracy, and
provided with every feature proper to its rank and period.
The great festival for boys comes at the Feast of Flags. This is held on
the fifth day of the fifth month. Every one knows when the Feast of Flags
is near, for before every house where there are boys a tall post of bamboo
is set up. Swinging from the top of each post is the figure of a huge carp,
made of brightly coloured paper. If a boy has been born in the house during
the year the carp is made bigger still. The body of the fish is hollow, and
when the wind blows into it, it wriggles its fins and tail just like a fish
swimming strongly. The Japanese choose the carp because they say it has the
power of ascending streams swiftly against the current and of leaping over
waterfalls. It is thus supposed to typify a young man breasting the stream
of life, and thrusting his way through difficulties to success.
As the boys' day draws near, the shops become full of toys for them. There
are images bought for boys as well as for their sisters; but boys' images
are those of soldiers, heroes, generals, famous old warriors, wrestlers,
and so forth. The old Japanese were a war-like nation, and the toys
provided for their sons at the Feast of Flags were helmets, flags, swords,
bows and arrows, coats of mail, spears, and the like. The Feast of Flags
itself is held on the day sacred to Hachima, the Japanese God of War, and
the favourite game on that day is a mimic battle.
The boys divide themselves into two parties, called Heike and Genji. These
names represent two great old rival clans of the feudal days. Every Heike
carries a red flag on his back, every Genji a white one. Each combatant
also wears a helmet, consisting of a kind of earthenware pot. The combat
is joined, and the small warriors hack at each other with bamboo swords. A
well-directed blow will dash to pieces the earthenware pot, and the wearer
is then compelled to own defeat. That side wins which breaks most pots on
its opponents' heads, or captures most flags.
This display of weapons, with blowing of horns and trumpets, serves another
purpose also; for on the fifth day of the fifth month the Japanese believe
that Oni, an evil-disposed god, comes down from the heavens to devour
boys, or to bring great harm to them. But he fears sharp swords, so the
long swordshaped blades of the sweet flag are gathered from the edges of
rivers and the sides of swampy rice-fields, and used as decorations. As
a Japanese writer says: "Oni fears the sword-blade of the sweet flag, so
that its leaves are everywhere. They are upon the festal table; they hang
in festoons about the house, and all along the eaves. Boys wear them tied
around their heads, with the white scraped fragrant roots projecting like
two horns from their foreheads. So, and with the noise of bamboo horns,
they frighten away the ogre god. For he fears horned men, and he dares not
enter a house where so many swords hang from the eaves."