Portland Japanese Garden

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

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.

Excerpted and adapted by permission of the International Netsuke Society. All rights reserved.

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.

According to the legend of Prince Siddhartha's birth, his mother Queen Maya was traveling home to see her parents and had stopped to rest in the lush Gardens of Lumbini where she went into labor. It is said that auspicious signs heralded his birth, the sky was clear with brilliant sunshine, flowers bloomed, and birds sang. Directly after his birth, nine heavenly dragons appeared and emitted two streams, one cool and one warm, of the purest fragrant rain from their mouths that gently cascaded to bathe the newly born Prince. The baby Prince immediately took seven steps and seven lotus flowers sprang from beneath his feet.

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

Hina Matsuri, the Doll Festival, has been one of the most beloved annual festivals in Japan for centuries. Also known as Girls' Day, the festival features a display of remarkable dolls called hina ningyo specially made for this occasion only, and sometimes handed down in families for generations.

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.

Hina Kazari (Hina Display)

1. Dairisama—a nobleman and his lady (or Emperor and Empress)
2. Sannin Kanjo—three maid servants
3. Chodo—lacquered offering trays and symbols of the Imperial Court
4. Gonin Bayashi—five court musicians
5. Udaijin—Minister of the Left
6. Sadaijin—Minister of the Right
7. Shicho—three foot soldiers
8. Dogu (not pictured)—the furnishings of court life: palanquin, ox carts, storage chests, tea ceremony utensils, futon, mirrors, etc.

The arrangement of hina ningyo displays seen in department store windows throughout Japan at this time of year follows the formal arrangement that was established two hundred years ago. The order of display is sometimes changed subject to personal taste and regional custom. It typically consists of fifteen dolls with their furnishings and accessories. A folding screen is placed behind the two main figures on the top shelf of a five or seven-tiered hinadan. A pair of lanterns is placed on either side. A peach tree and an orange tree stand on the fifth shelf. Elaborately decorated furnishings are placed on as many lower shelves as space allows. The display is set out about ten days before the 3rd of March and is taken down within a day or so thereafter. There is a superstition that if the dolls are not put away promptly, the little girl of the household will not marry successfully when the time comes!

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.

Some fiber arts like quilting and weaving are popular forms of art in American history but have their roots in Japanese folk arts as well, while other fiber techniques that are popular in both countries include knitting and felting. One fiber art that can be described as truly belonging to the Japanese is shibori, a traditional Japanese textile art dating back to the 8th century. In this art form, the artist first creates a design and then the cloth is stitched, bound, resisted, and then wrapped or gathered by hand. Next the cloth is stained in natural dyes such as indigo, bark, roots, leaves, insects, or resins. For each color, dozens of steps have to be altered, re-stitched, gathered, etc.—and then the complicated processes are repeated from start to finish. The results produce stunning designs and beautiful colors unobtainable with synthetic dyes.

Karen Miller, Nautilus Fiberarts

"Reincarnation"

White mums, yellow mums
and even the moon—
Autumn ending

Shiki

There is a gentle sadness that drifts across the gardens and lingers over rice fields in the autumn breeze in Japan. There comes that brief moment of awareness in the garden every fall—summer is gone and the approach of winter is inevitable—made all the more poignant with the knowledge of how quickly life fades away. Each passing season is celebrated for the special beauty it holds in Japan. Autumn brings with it one last brilliant moment of color to share with the earth—the flamboyant red of the maples and the gold, rust, lavender, and white hues of the chrysanthemum, the flower that symbolizes an entire nation.

The chrysanthemum is the official flower of Japan. It has been cultivated there since the 8th century when it was introduced from China. The imperial family crest bears the symbol of the 16-petaled chrysanthemum, which has long been a symbol of longevity, dignity, and nobility.

Kiku Matsuri, the Chrysanthemum Festival, comes again this year to the East Veranda of the Garden Pavilion, where diagonal rows of the giant incurve mums are arrayed in traditional fashion in celebration of this flower-viewing festival. It is the fifth of the five seasonal Go-Sekku festivals in the traditional Japanese calendar.

• Link: Kiku Matsuri at the Portland Japanese Garden