I had really hoped this year would be the year.
The year I could put the Hina Matsuri (Girls’ Day) dolls out in the living room where we could enjoy them. It’s such a nice tradition: displaying beautifully intricate (and sickeningly expensive) dolls in traditional seven-layered kimonos for the weeks leading up to Girls’ Day on March 3rd, when the whole family pauses to pray for the health and well-being of daughters before feasting on feminine, cutesy foods, like tiny sushi and soup with delicate candy colored balls, followed by pink and green omochi (sticky, sweet rice cakes) for desert. Ladies magazines are full of hina (imperial princess) themed recipes. This year I think we’ll try the “parfait sushi,” which is sushi rice layered with eggs and other colorful ingredients in a glass so it looks like a parfait. I’m also thinking of ordering a Hina Matsuri themed ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins (known here as 31 Ice.)
Of course, the best laid plans of mice and moms often go awry. Or something like that.
I let the kids help me put the dolls out yesterday. You aren’t supposed to touch the porcelain surfaces ever. The dolls come with a “care package” including thin, cotton gloves to use when handling the dolls. I told the children about a hundred times not to touch the dolls.
A few minutes later, I noticed the emperor was holding the flowers that are supposed to go in a tiny vase in front of the display. An hour or so later, the empress had acquired a piggy bank. This morning, one of the silk lanterns behind the display had a small hole in it.
“I better move these some place out of reach,” I thought. I knew Daughter would flip out about that, so I planned to do it after she went to bed.
However, when I was washing dishes after lunch, I heard an eerie, ominous rolling sound coming from the hallway. I rushed over, dripping soap bubbles, just in time to catch Daughter with The Dolls going for a joyride in the wagon.
。・°°・(＞_＜)・°°・。
The dolls have now been moved to another room. We won’t be able to enjoy seeing them as much, but at least they won’t be demolished. Maybe they can join us in the living room for longer than one day next year.
I thought Daughter would be upset about moving them, but her transgression with the wagon was so great, even she knew it had gone too far. As I was transporting the dolls to safety in another room, I heard another rolling sound.
“What is that?”
“Just me and my robot dog,” she answered. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if I should look or not. I peeked around the corner to find Daughter talking dragging the vacuum cleaner by the hose, calling to it cheerfully that it was “a very good boy.”
This is an original post to World Moms Blog from mother of two in Japan, Melanie Oda. You also can find Melanie writing on her personal blog, Hamakko Mommy.
Photo credit to the author.
With three boys who cannot help but touch, explore, investigate, take-apart, re-organise etc etc etc…I completely understood your desire to have everything look good *and* your frustration that it just isn’t time – yet. 🙂 That food sounds divine, by the way.
With three boys who cannot help but touch, explore, investigate, take-apart, re-organise etc etc etc…I completely understood your desire to have everything look good *and* your frustration that it just isn’t time – yet. 🙂 That food sounds divine, by the way.
Robot dog! That’s excellent!
The dolls are gorgeous, I hope you get to enjoy them properly – and I can see why they’re so tempting to small hands. I hope you had a wonderful Girls’ Day!
Robot dog! That’s excellent!
The dolls are gorgeous, I hope you get to enjoy them properly – and I can see why they’re so tempting to small hands. I hope you had a wonderful Girls’ Day!
Firstly I think the tradition of celebrating our “Imperial Princesses” is a lovely one, and so awesome to know that, considering so many “traditions” relegate girls & women to “2nd class citizen status” there’s at least one which celebrates them!
I totally hear you regarding the dolls …. I still have a couple of tiny, delicate, porcelain tea sets which officially belong to my daughter (bought for her by her great-grandmother and grandmother when she was in pre-school) safely stored in a box on the top shelf of my cupboard! My daughter turns 16 years old this month …. maybe I’ll give them to her this birthday! 🙂
However, more important than anything else, is your child’s wonderful imagination! Seeing the vacuum cleaner as a robot dog is absolutely priceless! Enjoy your Imperial Princess and her imagination, before you know it she’ll be “all growed up”! 🙂
Firstly I think the tradition of celebrating our “Imperial Princesses” is a lovely one, and so awesome to know that, considering so many “traditions” relegate girls & women to “2nd class citizen status” there’s at least one which celebrates them!
I totally hear you regarding the dolls …. I still have a couple of tiny, delicate, porcelain tea sets which officially belong to my daughter (bought for her by her great-grandmother and grandmother when she was in pre-school) safely stored in a box on the top shelf of my cupboard! My daughter turns 16 years old this month …. maybe I’ll give them to her this birthday! 🙂
However, more important than anything else, is your child’s wonderful imagination! Seeing the vacuum cleaner as a robot dog is absolutely priceless! Enjoy your Imperial Princess and her imagination, before you know it she’ll be “all growed up”! 🙂
Ha!!! Melanie, is Girls Day every March 3rd, or just happen to fall on March 3rd this year?
I was a foreign exchange student to Japan when I was in high school. When I returned home, my host family sent me hina dolls. I still treasure them to this day!
Thanks for taking us to your corner of the world in Japan today!
Jen 🙂
It’s always on March 3rd. My birthday is the fifth, so for the first several years I was here someone always game me little Hina dolls….I ended up giving them to relatives back home.
Ha!!! Melanie, is Girls Day every March 3rd, or just happen to fall on March 3rd this year?
I was a foreign exchange student to Japan when I was in high school. When I returned home, my host family sent me hina dolls. I still treasure them to this day!
Thanks for taking us to your corner of the world in Japan today!
Jen 🙂
It’s always on March 3rd. My birthday is the fifth, so for the first several years I was here someone always game me little Hina dolls….I ended up giving them to relatives back home.
i love this.
i love this.
Melanie, I always love your posts and always wish they were longer. When I was an exchange student in Japan, I lived with a very afluent family near Kyoto. They had an enormous display of Hina dolls, in fact, so many they were displayed in the front entry in tiers (you know the sort). When I lived in the inaka (rural parts) as a JET, the displays were more approachable and reasonably sized. But whether museum quality or home-grown, I still could never get my head around the fact that the female inhabitants of the houses were forbidden to play with these magnificent items…in a way, the Hina embody so much of what Japan was like for me: everything beautiful and perfect in appearance (tattemae), but always a hidden truth or rule just bellow the surface (hone)…Happy belated birthday Ohinasama!
Melanie, I always love your posts and always wish they were longer. When I was an exchange student in Japan, I lived with a very afluent family near Kyoto. They had an enormous display of Hina dolls, in fact, so many they were displayed in the front entry in tiers (you know the sort). When I lived in the inaka (rural parts) as a JET, the displays were more approachable and reasonably sized. But whether museum quality or home-grown, I still could never get my head around the fact that the female inhabitants of the houses were forbidden to play with these magnificent items…in a way, the Hina embody so much of what Japan was like for me: everything beautiful and perfect in appearance (tattemae), but always a hidden truth or rule just bellow the surface (hone)…Happy belated birthday Ohinasama!