Ok, I'm sort of cheating. This is a festival that happens just after Hinamatsuri in a lot of areas, but in Iwatsuki it actually takes place on the Sunday before Golden Week, at the end of April.
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| Under the tree, people are putting nagashibina - paper dolls in straw baskets - into the water |
People buy or make paper dolls in straw baskets and float them down the river or out to sea. The idea is, in a kind of sympathetic magic, the dolls will carry all your bad luck and bad spirits away. This practice predates the tradition of displaying elaborate dolls at home. It's mentioned in The Tale of Genji, in the "Suma" chapter, so it's at least 1,000 years old.
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| People also included messages or wishes |
I once saw a TV drama where the young woman had terrible luck in love and life in general. Her grandfather, a doll maker, persuades her to float a pair of dolls down the river and pray for her situation to change - so I guess you could do it any time.
In truth, the park in Iwatsuki has a large pond, not a river, so the dolls were floating away thanks to a man hidden behind a screen, with a big paddle to make an artificial current. The kids didn't seem to notice though!
The park had a really festive atmosphere. Little girls in kimono gave a koto recital, people were collecting donations for the Tohoku disaster, food stalls were serving up yakisoba and they were handing out free Amazake, made from fermented rice. It's very low in alcohol, but has quite a distinct, sweet, fermented taste. Served warm on a hot day, I have to say, it wasn't my favourite.
In Tokyo, you can see Nagashibina around February 26th on the Sumida River in Asakusa and March 3 on the Kanda river near Nihonbashi Joggakan high school.
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| At any festival, you'll find my favourite species of "ojisan": the hobbyist photographer with his packed lunch, lots of equipment and many pockets. |
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