No country in the world honors puppets more than Japan, where a puppet festival has been held every year for over a thousand years. The festival lasts three days. It starts on the third day of the third month. This is the third of March in our calendar.
The Doll Festival is the happiest time of the year for Japanese girls. Then the festival puppets are shown. Then the girls put on their best clothes and serve the dolls and adults as if they themselves were adult hosts in their homes. That’s when the shops are filled with Festival Dolls and their possessions – furniture, cooking utensils, dishes, cake and candy.
Since the festival dolls are beautiful and many of them are very old, they cannot be played with. However, every little Japanese girl has a doll or two. You may play with these whenever you want. Kimiko is a stage doll. Behind her in the picture one sees the sacred Mount Fuji.