Dolls, dolls, and more dolls.

I lived right next door for three years, but had never actually managed to make it out to the Katsuura Big Hina Doll Festival. So this year, I was determined to go...and I did!

Hordes of people gathered to see the festival's highlight @ Tomisaki Shrine (遠見岬神社), Katsuura

This event celebrates Hinamatsuri (= Doll Festival) aka Girls' Day. Many families display hina dolls to pray for their daughters' health and happiness. Most common displays usually have 5 or 7 tiers of dolls, with the Emperor and Empress dolls on the top tier.

Can you guess how many dolls there are?

About 1,200 hina dolls line the 60 steps here at Tomisaki Shrine. Each morning of the festival, volunteers carefully set up this display, and in the evening they go back and put the dolls away again, just to set them up again the next morning. Do note that this display is not laid out in case of rain! We just missed the rain by a day, so we were really luck to be able to see this display. This event has become so famous that it is introduced in the national news around this time of the year.

Amazake!

It was pretty chilly, so we warmed up with a good serving of amazake (甘酒), which they were selling right next to the shrine stairs. The amazake here is special because it was made with Koshigoi sake - Koshigoi (腰古井) is a popular sake brewery located in Katsuura! Their amazake wasn't too sweet - like how many other amazake tend to be, but still had a full, deep flavor.

Katsuo fish mikuji for guys and tai fish mikuji for girls!

Now that we were nice and toasty thanks to the amazake, it was time to explore more of the festivities! But wait...they had a lot of fun mikuji, or fortunes, at the shrine. These were absolutely adorable!!!

Hina doll display outside one of the local businesses.

Just outside the shrine, you'll find the Katsuura Central Shopping Arcade. Many, many shops throughout the shopping arcade have set up their own doll displays inside and outside their stores, and it is fun to see what kinds of displays they have.

Street performances of matsuri flute and taiko drums. Erghhh I can't wait for matsuri season again!!!

At the Isumi Railway booth!

Ryokan Matsunoya.

Also in the middle of the shopping arcade. I didn't actually get to see what's inside because it was so crowded, but I wanted to get a picture of this ryokan (Japanese-style inn), Matsunoya. I had heard of this place before because it was built back in the Edo Period, and is a National Tangible Cultural Asset (国登録有形文化財). Next time I'd like to see what it's like on the inside...!

In front of the gates of Kakuoji Temple.

Another fantastic hina doll display. About 600 dolls stand here...it's pretty amazing!!

In celebration of the Year of the Dragon!

Just past Kakuoji Temple is the Municipal Library! If you step onto the second floor, you will be greeted by this lovely works, created by children from the local day care!

I really love this work too, which depicts Katsuura's new famous specialty, Katsuura Tantanmen (lovingly known as Katsutan)! The dolls swimming in the spoons at the bottom of the photo are really cute too.

I want to live in one of these fancy house things...

Located right next to the children's works are various displays of rare hina dolls! This may have been my favorite display from the event.

Dolls inside glass bottles!

Out the glass bottle doll displays, I loved this one the best.

This photo is really dark, but it is supposed to be of the Katsuura's morning market (朝市), another famous feature of Katsuura. The morning market dates to over 400 years ago! It is pretty much farmer's market where vendors sell their wares - usually vegetables or fish, but it can also feature goods like accessories or processed goods. The morning market is normally only held everyday from 7:00-11:00am everyday but Wednesdays, but it looks like the morning market is especially being held all day for everyday of the festival.

Another surprise display, this time right next to the Morning Market! I really love these bamboo displays...

One of the last, but best displays we stumbled upon!

The above display was hiding next to a row of vending machines. I love the cows! It is pure genius.



The Katsuura Big Hina Doll Festival will be going on until March 4, so if you can, please visit! There are still a number of other events/displays I wasn't able to stop by.

A bit of advice though:

Shuttle bus on stand-by at the Katsuura main event site.

If you do want to see all of the exhibits, you need to go by car. The Moriya (守谷)parking lot is about a 10 minute shuttle bus ride to the main event site. On the way there, you can't miss it as long as you can read "ビッグひな祭り," which is written in large letters on the many signs all along the way.

Parking costs 500 yen, and also includes a 200 yen coupon which can used towards goods/services at many of the businesses participating in the festival. Also, if you are planning on going to see the Namegawa event site, make sure you keep this ticket safe! Once you pay for parking at one of the official parking lots, you can show this ticket and park at the other lot for free.

Intense lines for the shuttle bus!

My last piece of advice...go early! The festival starts at 9am everyday. We arrived at that time and had no trouble parking. I took the photo above around noon, when we were leaving the parking lot. The lot, which is huge, was practically overflowing...as were these poor people! If you want to avoid crowds (as much as possible with an event like this), I really recommend going early. I wonder how long these people were waiting for the shuttle bus...

I have never really "celebrated" the Hinamatsuri, so it was nice getting into the celebrations! But perhaps, it was most interesting to see such a small town pour all of their energy into this event, which really has become a great success and huge inspiration!