Kanzou Yashiki (Kanzou Residence)

This time, I went to one of Yamanashi's oldest residence. It is called Kanzou Residence. Kanzou residence is located right in front of Enzan station. Here, at Kanzou residence around March, they are holding a Hinamatsuri. Hinamatsuri or Hina festival is a festival to celebrate girl's day. I learned a lot about Hinamatsuri here. 

Hina dolls

In Japan, girl's day is celebrated on March 3rd. At this time, those houses who has daughter will display some special dolls which are called Hina ningyou, or Hina doll. Hina dolls represent the emperor, empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period. 

The origin of Hinamatsuri was from Heian period custom called Hinanagashi. Hinanagashi is a custom to set afloat straw Hina ningyou on a boat in a river that sent down to the sea. From a very long time in Japan, doll was said to have the power to absorb the negative energy and bad spirit from human, so by sent it to the sea it was told to take the troubles and bad spirit away from children. 

Godenkazari Hina

There are rules to place of the dolls. The dolls are usually placed in a seven-tier platform. The top tier holds the emperor and the empress dolls. The emperor doll is called Odairi-sama and the empress doll is called Ohina-sama. The second tiers hold the three court ladies. It is said that if you look at the dolls closely you can find that one of them has no brows. The one who has no brows is called to be married and therefore is the mentor of the unmarried court ladies. The third tier holds the five musician dolls. The dolls is placed according to the instrument they are playing. The loudest instrument is placed on the left part and continues to the right with the least loud instrument. The fourth tier holds the two court archers. The fifth hold the three lowest rank attendants. The lowest rank attendants were the people that were often changed so they express more expression than the other dolls such as anger, sadness, and happiness. And the last two tiers holds the miniature furniture. 

The ancient Hina dolls

In Japan, the kanto and kansai region have different styles to place the hina dolls. The difference are on the top tier and the fifth tier. The Kanto region style put the Ohina doll on the right side, but the Kansai style put it on the left side. In the old time, the hina dolls were placed according to the Kansai style, but now, most of the region used the Kanto style. The difference in the fifth tier is the things that the attendant holds. Kanto region dolls are umbrella holders and a shoe holder. Kansai region dolls holds a rack, a broom, and a dust pan. Here, in Kanzou residence, there are a lot of hina dolls. There are some ancient hina dolls that were displayed here. So by seeing the placement of the dolls and the things they hold you can figured out when or where were the dolls came from. 

Tsurushi Kazari

They also will decorate their house with some special decoration such as Hina tsurushi kazari. Tsurushi kazari is a decoration that was made to pray for the daughter of the house. Tsurushi kazari was made to pray for the daughter well-being. Tsurushi kazari consist of seven stringed decoration that tides together. Each of the stuffed things in Tsurushi Kazashi has its own meaning and prayer. The prayers are different in each house, but most of the prayers are the same. 

Koushu Army washi art work

Kanzou residence also has class to make washi decoration. It is a decoration madewashi papers. Here they also displayed some washi art works that they made, such as the Koshu army, the four mystical being, etc. The class is held on Saturday on a certain date. You can ask the receptionist about the date if you want to participate. 

from Japanese

This is a really nice place to enjoy and learn one of japan's cultures. Since it is located near the station, you can easily visit here. I really enjoy my visit here and I learn a lot about Hinamatsuri here. See you on my next post.