A rare seven-layer platform doll set used to celebrate hinamatsuri, or Girls’ Day, in Japan is now on display at the Puppetry Art Center of Taipei, offering visitors an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of traditional Japanese culture.
Girls’ Day falls on March 3 in Japan and as part of the tradition, families display a set of ornamental dolls on platforms covered with red cloth as a symbol of good fortune for their daughters and for a lifetime of happiness in their marriage.
The doll set on display at the center was donated by Shou Kaori, who lived in Taiwan for more than 20 years before moving to Canada two years ago. The seven-layer doll set, which was part of Kaori’s family collection for more than 40 years, cost more than NT$350,000 and is considered rare even in Japan, as most families can only afford to display three to four layers of dolls.
PHOTO: LIN HSIANG-MEI, TAIPEI TIMES
“Ms Kaori donated the precious doll set to the center because she wanted to find the perfect place to display the collection and introduce traditional Japanese culture to more people,” said Annick Tsai (蔡怡君), operating manager of the center.
Tsai said the seven-layer doll set was displayed according to the traditional arrangement, with the top tier containing two dolls known as imperial dolls. Attendants, servants and musicians in the traditional court dress of Japan’s Heian period are displayed on the other layers.
According to the Japanese tradition, the dolls and other ornaments should be taken down from the platforms immediately after the festival, as Japanese believe that leaving the dolls out after March 4 will result in misfortune or late marriage for their daughters, she said.
The exhibition will run until Feb. 27. Visitors can also participate in a prize draw in which 10 visitors will be selected at the end of the exhibition and invited to make a Japanese-style lunchbox that will include foods traditionally eaten during the festival, such as sushi, clam soup and cakes made with cherry blossoms.
For more information, visit the center’s Web site at www.pact.org.tw.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS