Girls’ Day Dolls…On Steroids
There’s a little town about two hours from Tokyo called Katsuura, where one a year, dolls rule. 12,000 of them, to be exact.
So, how did Katsuura get so many dolls? The truth is, pretty much every Japanese girlbaby is given a set on her first New Year’s, but if you run out of girls to hand them down to, they’re really hard to throw away!
It’s not just because they’re hella expensive – these dolls actually have to be cremated. Yes, because they’re invested with the power of Shinto gods, they fall into the category of sacred garbage. Which means you can’t just bundle them into a plastic bag and kick them to the curb on burnable trash day, you have to pay priests at a shrine for a doll funeral. (Nevermind the shoot-me-now horror of throwing away dolls and beloved stuffed animals – admit it, you have a scruffy collection in a box in the closet too!)
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly newsletter Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Jonelle Patrick View All
Writing mystery books set in Tokyo is mostly what I do, but I also blog about the odd stuff I see every day in Japan. I'm a graduate of Stanford University and the Sendagaya Japanese Institute in Tokyo, and a member of the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters In Crime. When I'm not in Tokyo, I live in San Francisco. I also host a travel site called The Tokyo Guide I Wish I'd Had, so if you're headed to Japan and want to check out the places I take my friends when they're in town, take a look!
Reblogged this on Darswords and commented:
Because I love her books and her blog. I have to share! I feel she has given me quite the education of all things Japan.
This is fascinating! Thanks for sharing. I had to share and reblog!
Wow, I am so honored! And happy that you enjoyed the photos & such – wish we could see these together! ♡
Me, too! That would be fun! But you do a nice job showing and telling about what you’ve witnessed, that I almost feel that I’m there. 🙂
Oh my. Amazing.
Just finished a book you might like Daughters of the Samurai by Janice Nimura. It is about women and education at the start of the Meiji period. It actually is a page turner. I learned a lot of history of Japan and US.
Know you are having fun.
D ❣
Sent from my iPhone
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Sounds fascinating! Nonfiction?
Do you know if girls are given a new set on their first birthday or can it be hand me down?
Yes, hand-me-downs are common, because the doll sets are SO expensive! And thank you for asking that question, because I caught an error in my post – girl babies are usually given the dolls on their first New Year’s, not their first birthday. (Although until modern times, everybody celebrated their birthday on New Year’s not on the actual day of their birth – so if I’d been writing this blog a hundred years ago, I wouldn’t be having to mea culpa right now!)
Good grief. I’m a huge doll fan and had never heard of this. I suppose it’s too late to see them this year?
Arg, yes, this year it was on from 2/29 to 3/5. (><;;) But here's the website, so you can go next year! http://www.city.katsuura.lg.jp/forms/info/info.aspx?info_id=30237