Toraya no ohinasama: Splendid hina dolls from the Toraya Collection

Abstract

"The third day of the third month: celebrating this day as the Hina Festival, with a display of a pair of hina dolls, male and female, became customary in the Edo period, around 17th century. The additional dolls included in the display, and the many accessories, have gradually increased over time. The set of hina dolls and accessories that Kurokawa Mitsukage (1871-1957), the fourteenth-generation proprietor of Toraya, a Japanese confectionery business with a long history, built for his daughter Kazuko is a superb collection, in both quality and quantity, that shares the brilliance of the past with us. The hina dolls are elegant emperor and empress dolls made by Maruhei Ōki Doll Shop in Kyoto. The majority of the accessories, however, were made by the Nanasawaya in Ikenohata, Ueno, Tokyo (then Edo); they include a cornucopia of miniature furnishings and other pieces. In this exhibition, these works from the Toraya Collection are joined by furnishings and accessories for trousseaus from the Nezu Museum's collection. Visitors will be able to compare the miniature hina accessories with the trousseau items on which they were modeled as they enjoy the world of exquisite Edo-period craftsmanship both embody"-- Greetings, Kōichi Nezu (page iii).