There are common dolls for the little girls to play with every day, but
these elaborate ones, the honourable dolls, are stored with the greatest
care. Many of them are very costly. The doll is not only beautifully made
and dressed, but its house is furnished with the most exact imitations of
every article of furniture and of every utensil. In wealthy families this
toy furniture is made of the rarest gold lacquer, or of solid silver,
or of beautiful porcelain. Not a single article, either of state or of
usefulness, is missing, and it is the delight of a Japanese girl at the
Feast of Dolls to use the tiny utensils of her toy kitchen to prepare an
elaborate feast of real food which is set before her honourable dolls.
The beginning of a collection of such dolls is made as soon as a girl is
born. Every girl-child is presented with a pair of these dolls, and as time
goes on she gathers all the articles which go with them. These dolls are
always her own. When she marries she takes them to her new home.
When the O-Hina Matsuri, the Feast of Dolls, draws near, the Japanese shops
begin to be full of the little images used at that time. The poorer are of
painted earthenware; the finer are of wood, with clothes of the richest
materials. These images, together with tiny bowls, and pots, and stoves,
and trays, are used to set off and decorate the surroundings of the Feast
of Dolls. They vary very greatly in price. The coolie household may have
a set-out which cost a few pence.
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