Hina Dolls | Yuko Takeda, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care
March 8, 2022
The manuscript deadline, March 3, is Momo no Sekku, the Hina-matsuri (Doll Festival). As I was struggling with a topic for Okashira's Diary, the Hina dolls in my home seemed to smile at me, so I decided to write about them.
The Hina dolls that now make an appearance every year since my daughter was born were a gift from my maternal grandmother when I was three years old. Although I have an older sister, my family moved frequently due to my father's job, making it difficult to have a tiered Hina doll display. I still remember how delighted I was to receive a compact, full set of Hina dolls in a glass case. My mother used to display them every year, but at some point, it seems to have become my responsibility. As I grew up, they appeared less frequently and were eventually put into storage. They made their comeback with the birth of my daughter.
There was an old advertising slogan, "The face is the life of the doll," and indeed, the faces of these compact kimekomi dolls are lovely, lacking the sense of awe that Japanese dolls can sometimes inspire. For me, they overlap with the smile of my kind grandmother. I was repeatedly told a story about my birth: that when my grandmother came to visit, someone remarked, "She looks just like her grandmother." I myself was proud of the resemblance. My grandmother was a stylish and chic person who looked forward to going to Kabuki in a kimono more than anything else. It was at her funeral that I learned I was not related to her by blood. My mother and grandmother were very close, and I had always felt my grandmother's deep affection for my mother and us, so I was completely unaware and greatly surprised.
Strangely, as I get older, my face has come to resemble my grandmother's from that time even more. Every time I display the Hina dolls, I feel as if I am in touch with the love my grandmother and mother had for their family. Along with these Hina dolls, which are over half a century old, I hope to pass on that love to my daughter, who will be the fourth generation.