Collection Connections

The catalog of an exhibition held at the Tokyo National Museum in 2019. Japanese families pray for the health and happiness of their daughters on March 3, the Doll Festival. On this day, elaborate dolls called hina are displayed in family homes. These dolls represent aristocratic couples during their wedding ceremonies. In the Edo period (1603–1868), hina dolls became popular among samurai lords, court nobles, merchants, and other wealthy city dwellers.

The Tale of Genji was written in the eleventh century by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady of the Heian court. It is universally recognized as the greatest masterpiece of Japanese prose narrative, perhaps the earliest true novel in the history of the world.

This book presents a classification of matsuri drawing from a variety of sources and approaches. It draws of course from an observation of present-day matsuri and from what distinguishes one matsuri from another, that is, from what makes it unique.

When Yoko's grandparents send her a beautiful antique doll all the way from Japan, Yoko the cat couldn't be happier. She places Miki on a windowsill and brings her candy every day. On Girls' Festival Day, Yoko wants to show Miki to her class and tell them all about the Japanese holiday. In her Big No voice Mama says, "We don't trouble trouble or trouble will trouble us." But Yoko is so excited about Girls' Day that she can't resist taking Miki to school. Mama will never know. What could possibly go wrong?

If you are seeking more in-depth readings on the culture and history of gender in modern Japan, this is a good start. Gender and Sexuality in Modern Japan describes the ever-changing manifestations of sexes, genders, and sexualities in Japanese society from the 1860s to the present day. Analyzing a wide range of texts, images and data, Sabine Frühstück considers the experiences of females, males, and the evolving spectrum of boundary-crossing individuals and identities in Japan.