Photo: Hiroshi Sunairi

During a recent seed planting workshop with guides, volunteers and friends, the Portland Japanese Garden started a year-long journey toward next year’s Art in the Garden Summer 2011 exhibition with conceptual artist and sculptor Hiroshi Sunairi, who launched the worldwide Tree Project with an exhibition in New York in 2009.

Describing this fascinating project, Hiroshi Sunairi says, “The trees that still live from the time of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima are called, Hibaku trees (A-bombed trees). In the winter of 2008, from tree doctor Riki Horiguchi in Hiroshima, I received seeds of Round Leaf Holly, Persimmon, Chinaberry, Firmiana simplex, Japanese Hackberry, Jujube trees that are the second or third generation of Hibaku Trees. I have been giving these seeds to the ones that are interested in planting them both in the US and the world. By sharing these seeds, I would like to share the pleasure of growing plants, especially the plants from Hibaku seeds.”

Photo: Heike Edossa

With the planting of more than two dozen of these Hibaku seeds on a recent afternoon in June, the Garden was honored to become a new branch in Mr. Sunairi’s Tree Project. The plants grown from these seeds will be part of a special exhibition by Mr. Sunairi to held at the Garden in June 2011.

In the photo at the left, Virginia Harmon, Director of Grounds Maintenance, instructs Mrs. Bernice Brown and Garden volunteer Judith Lancefield in how to plant their Hibaku seeds. At age 101, Mrs. Brown made the two-hour trip from McMinnville to participate in this project.

Watch our web site for details of the June 2011 exhibition.

The final event in the annual cycle of Go-Sekku is traditionally held on 9/9 and is officially known as Choyo no Sekku, though most people know it today as Kiku no Sekku or Kiku Matsuri—the Chrysanthemum Festival. Choyo means “double yang,” referring to the double nines of the date, nine being considered the highest odd number and therefore the most “yang” of all numbers in Taoist belief. Yin and yang are the two opposing (and complementary) forces of the cosmos, yin being the negative, gentle force, and yang being the positive, strong force. The 9th day of the 9th month was thought to be the most yang date of the year, and the sun—the most yang element of the universe—is a symbol of the greatest importance in Japanese culture.

The creation stories of Japan attribute the beginning of civilization to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, and the 16-petalled chrysanthemum, which resembles a sunburst, continues to represent the imperial family as its personal emblem and a national symbol of Japan.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

An array of spider chrysanthemums at the annual gala chrysanthemum display at Senno-ji temple, Asakusa, Tokyo.

Held at the beginning of autumn, after the harvest at the close of the agricultural year, Choyo no Sekku was a time for relaxation in farm communities. Drinking sake with chrysanthemums in it was considered good for health—kiku is a homonym for both “chrysanthemum” and “to be effective” in healing.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

Chrysanthemums, chrysanthemums, and chrysanthemums…each year a different floral scene at Zenyo-ji temple, Tokyo.

Chrysanthemums are the autumn flower in Japan, appearing in paintings and poetry and as design elements in lacquer ware, textiles, and ceramics. Many of the customs around this autumn festival involved these hardy flowers, which bloom well into the start of winter.

By the Meiji period (1868–1912), the signature event associated with this sekku was the cultivation of elaborately trained chrysanthemums, displayed in colorful rows. Townspeople donned their most beautiful kimono for a promenade to the nearest temple courtyard to view the fabulous displays. The emperor would give a splendid annual “chrysanthemum contemplating party” (kangiku). From farm villagers to aristocrats, Kiku no Sekku was enjoyed as a purely aesthetic celebration of flowers in this most beloved season and the last major observance of the cycle of Go-Sekku for the year.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

Love wishes and poems are inscribed on colorful strips of paper and tied to bamboo branches for heavenly attention, during the Tanabata celebration; Rikugien Garden, Tokyo.

Tanabata, the fourth of the Go-Sekku observances, traditionally takes place on 7/7. The festival takes its name from an old Japanese legend of the weaver girl, Tanabata Tsume, who is visited once a year by a spirit in her riverside hut on the Milky Way. This legend was later combined with a Chinese myth about a pair of star-crossed lovers, a weaver woman (Shokujo, or Vega) and a herdsman (Kengyu, or Altair), who were doomed to traverse the sky separately, able to cross the Milky Way and be together only once a year if the sky is clear. The festival is also referred to as the Festival of Stars in guidebooks.

During the Heian period, Tanabata was celebrated at imperial banquets, during which the emperor would observe the meeting of the stars, with performances of poetry and music. Today on Tanabata, people commonly write poems and wishes on strips of paper and make brightly colored paper festoons, with which they decorate a fresh green branch of bamboo to display beside their doorways.

Streets of some Japanese cities are decked out with lavish plastic decorations, making Tanabata something of a tourist attraction.

Popularly celebrated as a national holiday on 5/5, Kodomo no Hi (Children’s Day) began as a special day for boys. Tango no Sekku, the original title of this festival meant First (tan) Day of the Horse (go) in the old calendar. Various equine practices developed over the centuries, to celebrate valor and encourage all the virtues of manhood. Similar to the Girl’s Day observance on March 3, Tango no Sekku was a time to ensure the health of a male child, of particular importance during feudal times. The leaves of flag iris, which bloom at this time of year, were thought to have healing properties when added to the bath, a custom called shobu-yu.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

Strings of carp streamers span the Sagami River in Kanagawa prefecture from late April through early May.

During the Edo period, this festival complemented Girl’s Day even further with the making and display of elaborate samurai warrior dolls and beautifully made miniature horses. Colorful streamers in the shape of carp (koi nobori) were flown, the carp having legendary qualities of perseverance as they swim up river and become dragons if they are able to surmount the waterfalls. Food again plays and important role in this festival, with the serving of sweet rice cakes wrapped in oak leaves (kashiwa-mochi).

After World War II, Tango no Sekku was renamed Children’s Day in a gesture intended to recognize all children without gender discrimination on this day, though the associated practices remain largely traditional. The custom of flying one carp banner for each male child in a family evolved into one banner for each member of the family. It is the only one of the sekku designated a national holiday.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

Paper hina dolls are set afloat by children on the pond in Tokyo’s Meiji Shrine north garden.

The second of the Go-Sekku, Momo no Sekku, the Peach Festival, traditionally takes place on 3/3. In the old lunar calendar, this day fell when spring warmth began to be felt, the peach trees bloomed, and people felt the need to cast off the staleness of winter and cleanse themselves of winter’s lingering maladies. Early customs associated with the day involved ritual cleansing on the river banks and a purification rite that included making paper figures, moving them against one’s body, then casting them into a river to exorcise illness and evil spirits. A similar custom of floating dolls down a river, called nagashi-bina, continues today in some parts of Japan. The popular name for this festival is Hina Matsuri, the Doll Festival, a day to pray for the health and wellbeing of girls (also called Girl’s Day).

Though the origin of the custom remains obscure, from early on a display of two dolls was put up in aristocratic homes on this day. During the Edo period, this developed into an extravagantly decorated, multitiered display of dolls dressed as courtly prince and princess, with attendant advisors, ladies-in-waiting, and servants. Sets of dolls are given by parents or grandparents at the birth of a female child and displayed for at least a week before March 3.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

A display of more than 600 Hina Matsuri dolls at Tomisaki Shrine, Katsuura, Chiba prefecture.

The festival teaches etiquette to little girls, as each delicate doll must be specially cared for, carefully wrapped and unwrapped each year. Hina parties are held, and the girl’s friends gather to learn how to be a lady and eat delicately colored pink, green and white rice cakes and sip small amounts of a mild, sweet sake drink.

photos: Gorazd Vilhar

(top) Examples of the seven herbs of winter are exhibited in a planter. (bottom) A child is fed a bit of seven-herb rice porridge from his grandmother’s bowl.

Excerpted from Ikebana International Volume 53 Issue 2
Photographs by Gorazd Vilhar

Traditionally on 1/7, Jinjitsu no Sekku is the first of the year’s official sekku—the last of seven days on which special divination rituals are conducted. Each of the first six days is named for the animal that protects it: the day of the Cock, the Dog, the Boar, the Sheep, the Ox, and the Horse, culminating in a special seventh day called Jinjitsu (literally, “People Day”).

On this day, traditionally, a hot rice porridge is prepared with seven types of fresh green herbs (nanakusa), including daikon radish and turnip greens, chickweed, and other wild greens thought to be good for health. During the Heian period, the ritual porridge was comprised of seven grains, following similar Chinese practices, but during Muromachi times (1333–1573), herbs replaced the grains. In the Edo period, when the shogun decreed that all his subjects would observe the Go-Sekku, it became mandatory for feudal lords to start the year’s cycle of observances by eating the seven-herb porridge before entering the castle for the year’s first audience with the shogun.

The popularity of the Feast of Seven herbs declined somewhat in modern times, but seems to have made a comeback in recent years; both urban and rural supermarkets sell packs of nanakusa. Preparations for New Year (Shogatsu) begin in late December, then the entire nation takes time off for reflection and family for the first three days of the New Year.

Of the hundreds of ritual observances that take place throughout the year in Japan, some have their roots in indigenous folk practices that have marked changes in the seasons and the agricultural cycle throughout Japan for centuries. Other annual rituals originated in China, and among them is a special cycle of five festival events known as the Go-Sekku, which have melded with earlier Japan folk traditions to become permanent fixtures in the calendar year.

The word sekku refers to seasonal observances; the character for “ku” originally meant “offering” or “oblation.” Food plays a central role, particularly rice in various forms, in almost every festival gathering. During the Heian period (794–1185), these observances were part of aristocratic ritual, requiring the special preparation and partaking of season food offerings on the appointed day conducted according to precise rituals to ensure the fertility and health of the imperial family throughout the year.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

(above left) A Kyoto worshiper sets a rope smoldering with sacred fire at Yasaka Shrine on New Year’s Eve, to be carried home and used to light the year’s first cooking fire. (above right) Hamaya, evil-repelling arrows, are sold as charms at shrines during the first days of the year.

In the Edo period (1603–1868), by a decree of the Tokugawa shogunate, the whole nation was enjoined to adopt the Go-Sekku observances. In addition to the peace-of-mind that observing the proper rituals afforded, the yearly cycle served as a metaphor for life itself—from the first promise of spring to the coming of warmer weather, the start of the rainy season, the approaching heat of summer, and the end of the growing season in autumn.

photo: Gorazd Vilhar

Celebrants at a Kamakura beach observe the year’s first sunrise (Hatsu Hinode), while windsurfers enjoy the first sail of the year.

Originally, following the Chinese lunar calendar, the sekku were celebrated on the 7th day of the 1st month, the 3rd day of the 3rd month, the 5th day of the 5th month, the 7th day of the 7th month, and the 9th day of the 9th month—all considered propitious, powerful dates.

While the many customs and common names for these seasonal observances have changed greatly over the centuries, the Go-Sekku have remained at the heart of the Japanese approach to life—one that appreciates the beauty of the passing seasons and the poignancy and brevity of life itself. Through events like this ongoing cycle of seasonal festive observances, the fabric of life and a strong sense of national community survive.

Here at the Portland Japanese Garden, we believe in the importance of continuing to introduce our visitors to these elegant Japanese customs, hoping to encourage that same love of nature, the changing seasons, and each other’s good company in our community.

Marian P. Miller Collection
photo: Jonathan Ley

What is a netsuke?

A netsuke is a form of miniature sculpture which developed in Japan over a period of more than three hundred years. Netsuke served both functional and aesthetic purposes. The kimono, the traditional form of Japanese dress, had no pockets. Women would tuck small personal items into their sleeves, but men suspended their tobacco pouches, pipes, purses, or writing implements on a silk cord from their obi (kimono sash). These hanging objects are called sagemono. To stop the cord from slipping through the obi, a small toggle was attached. The toggle is called a netsuke. (The Japanese pronunciation is “nets-keh”). A sliding bead (ojime) was strung on the cord between the netsuke and the sagemono to tighten or loosen the opening of the sagemono. The entire ensemble was then worn, at the waist, and functioned as a sort of removable hip pocket. All three objects (the netsuke, the ojime and the different types of sagemono) were often beautifully decorated with elaborate carving, lacquer work, or inlays of rare and exotic materials, including: wood, ivory, precious metals, shell, coral, and semi-precious stones. All three items developed into highly coveted and collectible art forms.

Aren’t all netsuke made from ivory?

No, that is a common fallacy. Only about a half of all netsuke are ivory. Netsuke-shi (netsuke carvers) used materials that were available. Only artists located in Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo (Tokyo) had access to ivory. Artists outside of these population centers primarily used box or cherry wood, which they stained and polished. However, nearly every material imaginable was used, including narwhal (marine ivory), boar’s tusk, amber, stag antler, pottery, bamboo, etc.

Are there different styles of netsuke?

Yes, with the most common being the katabori or figural netsuke. There are also sashi or long, thin netsuke, that were thrust through the belt, with the sagemono suspended from the end that protrudes below the obi. Manju netsuke are named after a popular bean paste confection that came in a round, flat shape. Kagamibuta (literally, “mirror lid”) are a special type of netsuke with a metal lid and a bowl, usually in wood or ivory. Finally, there are mask netsuke, which are miniature versions of the masks used in Noh and Kyogen plays.

Don’t the Japanese own all the great netsuke?

No, in fact many of the great collections are outside of Japan. The Europeans were the first to collect netsuke, which were exported from Japan in great number during the second half of the 19th century. With the Meiji restoration in 1868, western dress was adopted in Japan and netsuke lost their raison d’être. Very large collections were built in England, France, and the United States. Today, many of the best collections are still in Europe and the United States either in private hands or museums.

Are all netsuke signed?

No, there are many great unsigned netsuke. In fact, the netsuke considered by many experts to be the greatest of all is unsigned. It is an 18th century ivory netsuke depicting an Ama (Japanese pearl diving girl) and a squid. Some collectors prefer unsigned works, since they avoid the controversy of whether the work is by a famous artist, or just a copy.

What are the good books on netsuke?

Today there are a wealth of good books, with beautiful illustrations, on netsuke. Two good works for beginners, both by Raymond Bushell, are An Introduction to Netsuke and The Wonderful World of Netsuke. Two volumes, which provide a comprehensive look at netsuke, are Netsuke by Neil K. Davey and Collectors’ Netsuke also by Bushell. Raymond Bushell has also adapted the most basic work in Japanese on netsuke, The Netsuke Handbook of Ueda Reikichi. Finally, for those collectors interested in reading signatures, there is Netsuke and Inro Artists and How to Read their Signatures by George Lazarnick.

Flowers drifted down from the heavens. The young Prince purified in body and mind from the rain, pointed one hand towards the heavens and one towards the earth and said, “Heaven above and earth beneath, I am the Honored One, the One who liberates all who suffer in the Three Realms.”

From this story, we celebrate Hana (flower) Matsuri (festival) and we create the Hana Midou (flower covered/filled altar). A statue of the young Shaka Nyorai is placed in the middle of the altar and celebrants pour sweet tea over him commemorating his entry into this world.

Jonathan Ley

In many cultures, a “doll” is a toy to be held and played with. Japanese tradition also has dolls of this kind. But the festival figures known as hina ningyo have their roots in ceremonial paper figures and protective images that were placed with the offerings in the tokonoma on the 3rd of March as a symbol of protection against evil spirits. Representing something more intangible than the word “doll” implies in English, they are not to be held or played with. They sit silently on their shelves during Hina Matsuri, a lesson for Japanese girls in gentility, dignity, and respect.

Festival History

The history of Hina Matsuri goes back centuries to an ancient Chinese ritual day known as Jyomi no Gyoji, the Day of the Serpent. Along with many other customs, this observance made its way to Japan as early as the 7th century. It was one of a cycle of five days in the year called sekku which were held at the beginning of each season in the agricultural year. On these special days, people invited the spirits of their ancestors to feast with them, and offerings of food and sake were laid out in the tokonoma in their honor. In this way, families hoped to ward off the illness and misfortune that often accompanied the dramatic change of seasons in this island country.

Jyomi no Gyoji was the second sekku in the cycle, and it took place on the third day of the third month each year. It is from this ancient ceremonial day that the customs and practices of today’s Hina Matsuri evolved in Japan over a period of more than a thousand years.

History of the Dolls

The dolls that have become associated with Hina Matsuri are descendants of paper figures attached to sticks that were rubbed over the body and then thrown into the nearest stream in a kind of purification ceremony. These figures called hitogata (人形), literally “human form”, were thought of as surrogate figures that drew illness and evil away from the people they represented. Throwing the polluted hitogata into water purified the human spirit and hopefully secured more months of good health. This custom, practiced on March 3rd, the First Day of the Serpent, was imported from China in the seventh century. The same Chinese characters used in the word hitogata can also be read ningyo ( 人形), a word used to refer to dolls as well as other representations of the human form. The word hina, when it is combined with ningyo, refers to the dolls of today’s popular festival day for girls.

In the Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji) written by Murasaki Shikibu about 900 years ago, there is mention of an activity called “hīna asobi.” In descriptions of this activity, the children of noblemen “played house” with small figures and furnishings. This first literary mention of hiina is said to have been in reference to something tiny or miniature, and it is presumed that the present day spelling of hina was derived from this word. Asobi is also translated today as “play”, but some scholars say that it may have originally referred to something closer to “pray.”

There are records of other types of figures called amagatsu that were made of bamboo sticks and covered with silk. They were placed next to the heads of newborn babies of the nobility to protect them from illness and evil. The counterpart of amagatsu among common people was called hōko. These were stuffed cloth dolls that were used in exactly the same way. Historians believe that the two figures came to be placed together with offerings for the gods in the tokonoma, making them the first pair of hina ningyo.

From paper figures and protective images, the hina dolls evolved during the Muromachi Era (1392-1530) into a pair of seated figures, male and female, much too carefully made to be thrown into streams. There are no hina dolls left in existence from this period and the hina that bear the name “Muromachi-bina” are actually dolls made in a much later period after the manner of this era.

It was not until the Edo Era (1603-1867) that the making of hina dolls reached the highest level of development. In the Genroku Period, around the end of the 17th century dozens of different kinds of hina were being made. This period was the height of extravagance for nearly all of the traditional crafts of Japan and hina dolls came to be clothed in silk brocade, specially woven in miniature to fit their royal costumes. The heads of the dolls at this time had heads made of a mixture of woodshavings and glue which were then coated with gofun, a kind of seashell paste. The tiny eyes were finally made of glass and inserted in place. Some of them have microscopic teeth and tongues inside their delicate mouths. The hair is silk thread attached by hand. The facial features are sometimes delicately painted on and the costumes range from accurate replicas of court fashion of a particular era to whatever the individual dollmaker felt appropriate (or could imagine, having never seen a “real nobleman”).

By the middle of the 18th century, the merchant class had risen to a position of great wealth and power, and they aspired to rival the upper classes in extravagance and grandeur. In the city of Edo (now Tokyo), the displays of hina spread over seven-tiered shelves that sometimes took over an entire room. The displaying of hina dolls like this on March 3rd was officially recognized by the government and became known as Hina Matsuri, the Doll Festival. However, in 1721, the Tokugawa Shogunate established austerity reforms in an attempt to control the rapidly rising merchant class. These regulations included a limit to the size of hina, as some of the more elaborate dolls at that time were over 3 feet high.

The customs of Kyoto dictate a more restrained manner of displaying hina dolls. Only five-tiered shelves, or hinadan, were used, and sometimes a miniature wooden palace, or goten, was constructed to house a relatively small number of dolls and accessories. One of the most interesting details of the hina display are the dogu, or furnishings and utensils that accompany the dolls. The more elaborate sets could include a royal oxcart and palanquin, a set of tansu or trunks, mirrored dressers, wardrobes, and tea ceremony utensils, all made of wood and carefully lacquered. The most elaborate sets also included kimono, futon, and even tiny hair ornaments. As the “Tale of Genji” was enjoying a revival during the Edo Era, the displaying of hina came to resemble a much later generation’s romantic dream of the glamour and finery of the days of Genji, often referred to as the Golden Age of Japan.

The Meiji Restoration in 1868, however, brought a much more staid approach to life in general, and the government issued very serious treatises on the importance of Hina Matsuri as a means of educating children. The keen interest in ‘formal’ education in those days stressed the virtues of loyalty, gentility, and restraint as necessary qualities for maintaining a stable society. As March 3rd had become a day especially for little girls (May 5th being reserved for boys), Hina Matsuri was held up as a model of happy family life and the virtues of womanhood were lauded. The ideal wife and mother was quiet, gentle, demure and restrained, and the beautiful hina dolls were there to remind her of this. The celebration of festivals like these acted as the fabric of traditional Japanese society. For a period of about a week and a half in March, mothers taught their little girls to carefully unwrap the delicate dolls and help decorate the elaborate display. Girls visit their friends’ homes to admire their dolls and drink amazake and eat sweet cakes together. Family members join in the celebration and spring is welcomed in by all.

It was not until the Pre-WWII days in Japan that the dolls came to explicitly represent the Emperor and Empress themselves. During the long history of hina ningyo, the dolls had always been thought of as noble and courtly, but the military government used them as a means of inspiring loyalty to the Emperor. Today most people still think of the pair of hina dolls as synonymous with the Emperor and Empress.

Athough many of the dolls today are still made by hand, they are assembled by retailers from parts that are made separately resulting in an overall sameness. These days, it is not unusual to find hina dolls made of plastic, as the handmade ones have become exorbitantly expensive.

Some complain that today’s festival has lost much of its meaning as an elaborate and costly set of hina ningyo has become as much a status symbol as a teaching tool. However, Hina Matsuri is still observed throughout Japan by rich and poor, city dwellers and farmers alike, whether the dolls are made of paper or clothed in silk.

While the origins of the festival and the history of the dolls have been largely obscured over time, perhaps not everyone has forgotten the spirit of Hina Matsuri, as a trip to Hokyo-ji Temple in Kyoto will demonstrate. There is still a custom in Kyoto of taking tattered old hina dolls to this temple to be burned in a special ceremony to release the spirits trapped with the “human form” (人形). The idea of the dolls having a spirit of their own—or possessing part of the spirit of the child that owned them lingers. As one Kyoto grandmother explained, “When people get too old to live any longer, they die. Dolls should be allowed to die, too.” Hokyo-ji is a nunnery known as the Doll Temple. During the month of March it is open to the public, and a collection of dolls that belongs to the nunnery is on view for a limited time. In ancient times, imperial princesses were sometimes sent to be cared for by the nunnery, and they brought their dolls with them. One of these dolls is said to walk through the temple corridors at night, protecting it from damage by fire.

Although much of Japan has become thoroughly modernized, traces of the spirit of times past linger on in traditional customs such as Hina Matsuri.