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(As told by Tomoye Takahashi on March 11, 2006)

When a baby girl is born in a Japanese family, the first Peach Blossom Festival is called her first O-Hina Matsuri (Girl's Day Festival) and happily celebrated.  According to tradition, as the third day of the third month approaches, Grandparents send traditional high court O-Hina (Girl's Day) dolls and relatives and close friends send supporting dolls.  Recently, however, if small apartments limit the display space, the five or seven-stepped court scene must necessarily be abbreviated or miniaturized.

This special day of the third day of the third month was always called the Peach Blossom Day and tradition has celebrated the Girl's Doll Day on this day to wish all little girls to continue to enjoy good health and grow up to become beautiful young ladies.

Some may wonder, "why the third day of the third month?"  This day is traceable to over a thousand years ago to a day of a ritual of the old zodiac that celebrated the coming of Spring by gathering at a riverside and floating paper images of figurines.  These paper images floating away symbolized the casting away of bad luck, sickness, unhappy incidents of the past winter and past year and getting rid of these memories by a purification ritual.

In olden days when medical science was not yet fully developed, doctors and modern medicine were not available and if babies became sick, more of them were lost so their first Peach Blossom Day in good health was a happy one.  The O-Hina dolls of the Court represent dolls that guard all children to stay in good health and enjoy happiness.

Now we have good doctors and modern medicine to treat sickness.  But in the olden days, there were stories of miracle related to animals or pets sacrificed in prayers to save lives, which changed to folk toy images like the red bull or dolls.  These became elaborate from paper mache and painted paper to the beautifully dressed court scenes of today.

On this day, girls have parties and enjoy traditional treats.  The refreshments may vary according to the customs of that part of the country, the family and the circumstances, but usually the celebration was in the colors of pink, white and light green - to reflect the Peach Blossom.  They sipped a sweet rice drink served with sweet-filled dumplings.  Usually, little girls dressed in their holiday-best kimonos attend these little gatherings at each others homes, held in the same room as the O-Hina doll display.

The traditional display was set on tiers or shelves just wide enough for the third shelf of the five musicians, but tall enough for five or seven tiers high.  The top shelf held the Emperor (O-Dairi-Sama) and Empress (O-HIna-Sama) dolls.  Next are the three Ladies in Waiting (San-nin Kanjo).  The third tier held the Five Musicians (Go-nin Bayashi).  The fourth tier holds the Guardian of the Right and Guardian of the Left (U-Daijin and Sa-Daijin).  The fifth tier has the Three Retainers (Jichou).  The lower two tiers hold miniature furniture and dolls of personal collection.

The O-Hina dolls are figurines for display and admiration.  They are not to be touched or played with at all but gazed at with respect and deep appreciation of their beauty and preciousness, as they are extremely expensive and expertly created of special materials to last for generations.

After having them displayed for about a week prior to the first day of March, a dry and sunny day is chosen for the preparation of storage.  A clean, unused, soft, small brush, such as a calligraphy brush, is chosen to lightly dust each doll which is held in one hand, taking care to avoid the disturbance of the hair style or the drape of their costume.

Have a roll of your softest bathroom tissue and a package of dinner size white paper napkins.  Cut the roll of tissue in about two foot strips and carefully and rather loosely wrap the head, then the rest of the figurine in a many strips as necessary, and finally in an open sheet of white paper napkin.  Do not secure with tape or pins.  Do not use preservatives, any chemicals or moth balls.  Do not use colored or printed tissue or colored napkins.  Place gently into original boxes from where they came, with markings indicating the date and year, donor and relationship with baby's name on the box, and description of the doll therein on the box.  Make another copy for outside the wrapper.

Wrap each box in printed newspaper.  Place the boxes with their identification showing where easily read on the side or end of the box.  Stack or store in a dark, dry place.  Make a yearly ritual of displaying O-Hina dolls each year.  This serves to air them out.  Legend says they will "cry inside the box" if not allowed to join the family celebration on the third day of the third month.

Samurai families included each group of O-Hina dolls as part of the wedding dowry for each daughter as marked and indicated received at her first O-Hina Festival.

Present day modern non-traditional families still observe Doll Day but serve pink ice cream and strawberry cake!  However, the happiness is observed and the tradition is preserved in this unique and lovely manner.  It is hoped that it is continued or started by all girls and women no matter how old, every year.