Hina Matsuri at Saga prefecture

Assalammualaikum.. :)

Hinamatsuri (雛祭り, Hina-matsuri), also called Doll's Day or Girls' Day, is a special day in Japan.Hinamatsuri is celebrated each year on March 3. Platforms covered with a red carpet are used to display a set of ornamental dolls (雛人形, hina-ningyo) representing the Emperor, Empress,attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period.

Last 3rd March 2016, Hina Matsuri exhibition was held at the Former Sansho Bank and Former Koga Residence.It was pouring rain on that day but the Japanese still manage to have a great exhibition along the small alley. Parking lots are provided but there are not much. Along the alley, you can see the decorations for Hina Matsuri telling you that the exhibition is being held there.

There are so many to watch and learn.As we can understand Japanese, it is not a problem for us to hear the explanations about Hina Matsuri. You can taste or buy the OKASHI(sweets) with a reasonable price there too.We tried Saga Mizu Youkan(sweet bean paste like) and it was so sweet and texture is quite soft.There are booth selling fish cookies, sweets, crafts and etc.You can take pictures as well as videos during the exhibition but becareful because some part of the exhibition prohibit the visitors to snap pictures.Maybe it's because the Hina-ningyou is expensive and exclusive.

We were invited to chanoma(tatami room) decorated with Hina-ningyou and enjoyed Ocha(Japanese tea).The whole journey was so pleasant and the decorations were really eye opening.The pamphlet provided there is Japanese as well as English so don't worry if you can't speak Japanese.The admission fee for regular exhibition is around 400 yen but you need to buy specil tickets for more special exhibition.

 

 

There were activities and games for children too