Dolls' day › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

PHOTO BY DAVE MACDONALD

Monday 05th October, 07:29 AM JST

Some 40,000 dolls are stacked up for Meiji Shrine’s Ningyo Kanshasai (Festival to Thank Dolls) on Sunday. People all over Japan send old or discarded dolls here where a ceremony is held to bless them for all they have done for their children owners. The dolls are then disposed of.

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Latest 15 of 23 Total Comments Show All

Yelnats at 12:38 PM JST - 5th October

I like freeky doll horror movies.
gogogo at 01:40 PM JST - 5th October

disposed of in Japan means burning.
NeoJamal at 02:03 PM JST - 5th October

Why not give them to third world children who are likely to work in sweat shops to make them for $0.30 a piece but are hideously expsensive in retail shops for them to afford?

The shrine can burn all the dolls it gets but all they will get in return is a few cubic centimetres of C02 emissions
dolphingirl at 03:01 PM JST - 5th October

I've heard of hina matsuri but I've never heard of this festival. Sounds like a prety bizarre superstitious ritual. Not to mention a waste. (couldn't they make it a bit more ecologically friendly) Then again western cultures have Halloween...
flammenwerfer at 05:32 PM JST - 5th October

Burn you say? It would be quite cathartic to hit that lot with a flame thrower. I like flame throwers you know.
peachy871 at 06:12 PM JST - 5th October

I have heard of this but was under the impression it was some longstanding tradition. Only since 1989??? Why was it even started? I have heard of the superstition about spirits inhabiting dolls but if that is true, what were they doing with dolls before 1989? And it is just a superstition.

Seriously...look at that pic and how may dolls are there. From the country that cherishes the term "mottainai". What horrible waste when there are so many needy children in the world who could use a doll or toy...
Osakadaz at 06:26 PM JST - 5th October

http://www.ningyoukuyou.com/

her is a site this lists all places where this happens throughout Japan and dates etc..

they definitely burn the dolls.It is rather ghoulish.
gogogo at 06:39 PM JST - 5th October

How about giving them to a child who might reuse it rather than burning it?
Sarge at 06:40 PM JST - 5th October

gogogo - Nah...
tclh at 07:52 PM JST - 5th October

All the dolls in kimonos are nice,good looking... mottainai desu ne.I don't understand where the idea ofspirits inside used dolls come from ,and why Japanese people of 21st century believe in such a thing. I don't ask this question if it is and ancient tradition, but only from 1989?
peachy871 at 09:42 PM JST - 5th October

Oops...perhaps the ceremony started at Meiji Shrine in 1989 but it looks like this ceremony has been around a little longer than that in other places. I still think it's wasteful and a little sad. I can understand burning dolls that really are ready for the dustbin, but from many dolls in the pic above seem to be in pretty good shape. A little cleaning and refurbishing and could be passed on to be loved by someone new.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20061015x1.html
Cliffy at 01:31 AM JST - 6th October

From what I have heard long time ago, if an object is being treasured for a long time (around 100 years), it will develop a spirit or something like. But that's just mumble jumbo to me. Kind of a Shinto thing I think. Of course, they believe there is a spirit in everything.

Back to the burning dolls thing, they should give them to some unfortunate kids. Or, perhaps it is just another tourist attraction?
SiouxGirl at 03:53 AM JST - 6th October

My ancestors believed the same thing - there's a spirit in everything. Some believe you can put your energy into an inanimate object, for better or worse. You can make good luck or bad luck. Maybe the belief here is that a sad or sick child might put some not-so-good energy into a doll, which then passes to the next person who owns it. I haven't seen this in action - yet, but from what people have said, that seems to be the belief behind be careful what you do, even what you think. It might come back on you. I've seen that - what goes around comes around, but not through an inanimate object. Like I said - yet.
tclh at 05:12 AM JST - 6th October

A little search on internet shows that because of dioxin pollution ,temples don't burn dolls anymore but send them to incinerator instead; only cut-off small patrs of dolls will be burnt at temples. Lucky that people do not stretch their beliefs into used cars or used houses ,heh!
sydenham at 05:29 AM JST - 6th October

This kind of ceremony is held for many things. From sewing needles to carpenters' tools.