View the Gorgeous Hanging Hina Dolls of Yanagawa City in Fukuoka Prefecture During Hinamatsuri!

Hinamatsuri is a cultural event where hina dolls are displayed and traditional food is served to celebrate the health and happiness of young girls. It’s held on March 3 every year and is also known as Momo no Sekku (Peach Festival), as peach trees typically flower around this time.

Its origins date back to the Heian Period (794–1192), when bad luck was transferred to paper dolls that were then sent down a river to drive away harmful spirits and prevent misfortune. Since then, the dolls gradually became more lavish, and the event transformed into a custom where dolls are displayed at home to take on any bad luck that may befall a family’s daughter, as well as to celebrate the health and happiness of the child.

Tsurushi kazari are Hinamatsuri hanging decorations made by tying handmade dolls together with string. It is a type of hina ornament with a history dating back over 100 years. In the past, hina dolls were so expensive that only the wealthy could afford to buy them. As a result, it became a tradition in many parts of the country for people to handmake dolls from scraps of cloth or other materials and tie them together with string to create tsurushi kazari, with which they prayed for their daughters’ happiness.

Today, displays of tsurushi kazari can be seen not only in individual homes but also at Shinto shrines and other places, with the tradition having evolved over time into huge events where tourists can enjoy the gorgeous ornamentations. Tsurushi kazari from Shizuoka, Yamagata, and Fukuoka Prefectures are especially popular.

• Hinano Tsurushi Kazari Festival (Shizuoka Prefecture)
This is a famous event where hina dolls and tsurushi kazari are displayed in numerous locations around the Inatori Onsen area. A must-see among them are the decorations at Susanoo Shrine, which was built in 1617. The stunning display of gorgeous dolls on the 118 steps within the shrine grounds is also the largest hina doll exhibition in Japan in terms of the number of display tiers.

• Hina no Kasafuku (Yamagata Prefecture)
Kasafuku is a popular display of numerous dolls hanging within red umbrellas of various sizes within the great hall of Sanno Club, a luxury traditional Japanese restaurant in Sakata City that is also registered as a tangible cultural property of Japan. One display umbrella actually holds 999 dolls! The hina decorations are all handmade by local women.

• Sagemon (Fukuoka Prefecture)
The beautiful hanging decorations known as Sagemon adorn tourist spots and shops throughout the city of Yanagawa during Hinamatsuri. Hina dolls are placed on hinadan* while a variety of small handcrafted decorations, such as Yanagawamari balls made of brightly colored string, are strung up all around them.

*Tiered platforms for displaying hina dolls.

Yanagawa in Fukuoka Prefecture, where the Sagemon is held, is a popular tourist spot located just 1 hour by train from Hakata, which itself is a hit with domestic and foreign visitors as well as a great destination for a fun day trip.

• What is Yanagawa like?
Yanagawa is located in the south of Fukuoka Prefecture and is referred to as a “city of water” due to the many canals that crisscross the city. It flourished as a beautiful castle town during the 1600s, and today it is home to many historic sites, lovely landscapes, and cultural properties dating back centuries.

• What to do in Yanagawa?

1. River Boat Tours
A popular tourist activity, these are paid canal rides on boats that move along the waterways at a leisurely pace. During them, passengers can enjoy views of the weeping willows swaying in the wind, the retro townscape, seasonal plants and flowers, as well as the boatman's charming stories and songs he uses to delight visitors while skillfully piloting the boat using a bamboo pole.

2. Discover the city on a rental bicycle.
Rental bicycles that are available for 500 JPY a day are recommended for seeing the city by exploring the paths along its canals as well as the city’s backstreets. Rental bikes are available at Nishitetsu Yanagawa Station and the Okinohata area, where the river boat rides end.

The mouths of Yanagawa’s rivers, where fresh water mixes with sea water, were full of unagi (freshwater eels) more than 200 years ago. Today, wild unagi is hard to come by, but eel continues to be a specialty of Yanagawa, where apparently a million unagi are eaten every year.

There are many unagi restaurants in the city, but Fukusensou is one of the most famous. Try their [Eel Seiro (Regular)] (3,520 JPY) made from unagi that has been dipped in a secret sauce and grilled over charcoal to a fragrant aroma, and then steamed in a seiro (bamboo steamer) with white rice mixed with the same secret sauce and kinshi tamago.* The steaming process makes the unagi meat fluffy and enhances the flavor of the white rice that has soaked up all the richness of the eel. The restaurant is in a convenient location, just one minute by foot from Nishitetsu Yanagawa Station.

At this restaurant, you can enjoy casual home cooking made with ingredients that Hakata is famous for, such as mentaiko (spicy cod roe). Their menu includes plenty of dishes with agodashi mentaiko, made from mentaiko marinated in a sauce of agodashi* and other ingredients such as Japanese mustard.

The most popular menu item is the [Hakata Mentai Mabushi] (2,900 JPY), a dish of freshly chopped mustard greens, sea bream sashimi distinguished by its delicate sweet flavors, and agodashi mentaiko served on freshly cooked white rice. The recommended way of eating it is by first squeezing a little lemon on it and taking a few bites, then mixing it with egg yolk dashi tororo*1 and enjoying that, and finally making it into a dashi chazuke*2. This way, it’s like getting three dishes in one!

*1. Fresh egg yolk mixed with grated mountain yam and seafood dashi.
*2. Hot agodashi broth was poured over the rest of the dish.