Hinamatsuri Festival in Fukushima City

On the morning of March 4th, 2017 we went on a  guided tour of some towns surrounding Fukushima City. The point of the tour was to break social barriers between government workers around Fukushima and English speakers. Each of us JETs were put into a group of Japanese people. I was put into a group with two men. One of them worked for the tourism department in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima. The other was a government worker in Fukushima City, although I don’t remember what his exact job was.

Our first stop was to a community center just east of the town of Kunimi. Here we met a man who was a master at making those straw ropes you see at shrines. These ropes are called Shimenawa. The ropes are made from rice stalks, and they are woven together to create decorations for torii gates, doors to shrines and even to put around trees and rocks that are considered holy. If you see it on a tree, it is called a Yorishiro and it means that there is a kodama (or nature spirit) residing in that tree and to cut it down would bring misfortune. When you see it around a stone it is where it is believed that a spirit resides or a place where the gods are invited to descend, therefore it is considered a holy place. The shimenawa are used for ritual purification and are believed to act as a ward against evil spirits. This is why you see them hung up at shrines and temples.

The man had been making the holy straw ropes his whole life. There were a few more men that also made the straw ropes, but I don’t know if they were considered “masters” as well. That day we were making small straw good luck charms.

Here is some video of the master showing us how to twist the rope to create our charms.
It was quite difficult at first, and I struggled a fair bit. But I got the hang of it after a while.

The master kept making rounds around the room to give us pointers and help if needed. He came over to me and told me that I had a natural skill for making the straw ropes. He kept calling me “jouzu” (skilled!) So if my life plans don't work out I can always go back to Japan and be a shimenawa and yorishiro weaver.

My friend Gabe was having such a hard time with his that they ultimately just gave him one that the master had made because his was so ratchet! He went home with two that day. XD
Look at how Genki we all are!

This is what the charms looked like when we finished.

He then showed us some larger straw ropes that you hang in front of shrine doors and across torii gates. These smaller bundles are in the middle of the big one, so it gives it more of a filled-out look. They then cover the outside with more straw to give it a clean look.

They also make these tassels out of straw and have them attached with string to the rest of the decoration.

Then finally they stuff folded paper into the straw using sticks, the straw is packed tightly enough together that the paper does not fall out.

At the end I was able to get a photo with all the Shimenawa masters.

After that we went to a nearby area called Kaida, which may or may not be a part of Kunimi. It is to the north east of the town itself. Here we went to an inn and restaurant where an old couple told us about some local dishes and delicacies of the area.

The owner showed us this old oven with a hole on top where you could place a pot for cooking things. It had a small opening on one side where you could tend to the fire underneath. He also used a reed to blow oxygen into the oven.

He said he used the reed instead of a fan, because you could be more accurate with the blowing reed and that using a fan was too strong. He showed us rice that he was cooking in the pot and let us blow through the reed to fan the flames underneath.

He explained to us that he had added sweet potatoes to the rice because it is a recipe he brought with him from Kyushu, where he is from originally. He said that long ago when there was a rice shortage, the people of Kyushu would add sweet potatoes to the rice as filler and to stretch the rice further. This is still common practice in Kyushu today, so he brought the custom with him when he moved to Fukushima.

We went inside the restaurant and listened to his wife talk about their life running the restaurant and the history of the area.

When the food finished cooking we were served small portions of many different dishes. They all looked lovely! The wife of the restaurant owner and cook drew us a little diagram of what she had made for us. This is honestly one of the most amazing acts of kindness and courtesy I have ever seen. She went through this extra trouble so we would understand what we were eating. And because of this small detail I could tell she was excited to host us and to talk to us. She was honestly one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met.

She also was educated in the art of tea ceremony so she made us all small cups of tea.

Everything was delicious, and I especially loved the fish cake and the fried fish bones. It was like a large chip! Absolutely fabulous! I ate every little morsel of my meal. It was all so good!

As we were leaving the owners of the restaurant gave us a little gift bag with some peach jam, and two bottles of juice, apple and apricot. How sweet of them!

Our next stop was to the town of Koori. Koori is famous for their doll display for the Hinamatsuri festival every year. We went to this large building that was built over 100 years ago. It is famous for being a building that marries both Eastern and Western architecture. There are large stained glass windows, the outside of the building, the other windows and the balcony are built in a western style, while the cloud motif above the entranceway along with the tiles used on the roof and the pillars in the entryway are all of an eastern style.

Inside there were many large displays of the Hinamatsuri dolls.


The Hinamatsuri Festival is a holiday every year on March 3rd. It is for displaying many dolls that represent the Imperial court. In olden days people used to send straw dolls in a boat down the river and pray for the health of their children. This custom is not practiced any more. Instead they set up the seven-tiered doll displays.

The top tier shows the Emperor and the Empress.

The second tier shows the three court ladies and they hold sake equipment.

The third tier shows the five musicians of the court. These include three drummers, a flute player and a singer, who holds a fan.

The fourth tier shows the two ministers of the court. Usually one is depicted much older than the other.

The fifth tier shows three warriors or samurai that help protect the Emperor and Empress.

The sixth and seventh tiers are a display of miniature furniture, carriages and other displays of wealth in an Imperial household.

In addition to the doll displays there are also displays of hanging toys. These toys are sewn from cloth and attached to a string. There are typically 5+ toys on one string and many strings on a mobile. These mobiles can have themes or can just be a mixture of various toys. Here was one with a sakura theme:

But most are pretty mixed.

They also have displays of miniature kimono and dolls that are not associated with the imperial court display.

After looking around at the great display we went upstairs to learn more about the building’s history.

You can see the imperfections in the old glass if you look closely.

It was really just used as a social hall for many decades and is now a small museum.

One thing I did find fascinating were some old photographs of the main road in town that you can see from the doorway of the building. It really hit home just how much Japan has changed in just 100 years.

From here we walked down the street to a little restaurant and tea shop where the owner of the shop spoke to us about the Hinamatsuri displays in town.

This is a little traditional-looking house that I thought was so cute!

She fed us a little snack of some miso soup as well as a cream mochi! It was absolutely fabulous! The cream inside was a fruity peach flavor and the mochi itself was so soft!

One thing I thought was funny about the owner of the shop was that she did not like having to stop her explanations and presentations to give the interpreter a chance to tell us exactly what she said. You could tell she was getting exasperated and a little annoyed with our interpreter. There are a few JETs in our group that speak very little Japanese, so they were pretty lost. I understand most of what is being said, but I still appreciate having an interpreter to fill in the gaps of what I missed.  Overall I found it pretty funny as well as awkward.

From here we went to Iino-machi where we went to see some Hinamatsuri dolls and mobiles that were made by children who had been evacuated from their homes in Itate during the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster.

Little bundled babies.

These were little babies that were bundled up.

I liked how these horses looked.

I met a woman who was a sewing teacher and she had taught many children how to sew the various toys and dolls on the mobiles.

I've never wanted to learn how to sew plush animals so much in my life!

There were also a lot of sewn stuffed animals and clothing, including these samurai hats.

Next to the community center there is an old locomotive train that is on display. It has been decommissioned and now you can go inside. It’s just a little attraction, but it was still fun.

There were over 18 different stores and attractions around town that had a Hinamatsuri display. We walked around to maybe five of them in the time we were given. Many of these things were also made by evacuated children.

This was made by the children of Itate village, I believe.

Cute monkey mobile!

I really liked this mobile. It looks like hanging wisteria flowers!

In this shop next to the Hinamatsuri display I saw these three obi that were tied in a beautiful, ornate way.

I dont know if you can see the intricate bows any better...

We also walked past a little Buddhist temple. This one didn’t have much going on with it except it had a few nice Jizo-sama statues in front.

These would be little figurines of the seven gods of happiness. They were still in their Styrofoam packaging.

I stopped at a little restaurant in the street and bought a taiyaki, and we continued to walk around the town chatting until it was time to get back on the bus.

"Walk, walk, fashion baby. Work it, move that bitch crazy."

"I'm a free bitch, baby."

I really liked this Hinamatsuri display. It had the seven gods of good luck sewn into dolls on this boat display.

The other thing that this town is known for, if not the only thing this town is known for, is that it is supposedly a place that aliens have visited in the past. There is a large pyramid-shaped mountain nearby that people believe has been visited by extraterrestrials.

As a result the town has aliens and UFO memorabilia all around the town. There were even a few alien and UFO themed Hinamatsuri mobiles around the town.

There were also statues and benches that featured aliens.

It is quite interesting and I have made plans for next month to return with friends and check out the UFO museum they have nearby. Stay tuned!

When our time had run out we made our way back to the bus.

We returned to Fukushima City. It was a nice day and I learned a lot. I was able to see and do a lot of things that I would not have known about otherwise. I was able to practice speaking Japanese with native speakers, and I learned a lot about the area I live in. It’s tours like this that I think I will miss the most. I mean, you can always hop in a car or catch a plane to a destination and spend time looking at things yourself, But I love having an organized tour with people to talk to and explain details about a town or site that you wouldn’t know on your own. I had a fantastic day with fantastic people.

This is a bike parking place outside Fukushima City's train station. I really like the colorful window.

Fukushima's city logo.

At night they light up Fukushima City's broadcast tower with different colors.

Manhole cover for Fukushima City.

To top off the evening I stayed with my friend Felipe that night. We stayed at a place called Jam in Fukushima City and chatted. Afterwards we went back to his place and watched a movie. I drove back to Minamisoma the next morning and got some things done that I had been avoiding.