Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival) Coloring Pages

A Festival to Celebrate the Healthy Growth of Girls

Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival) is a special Japanese celebration held on March 3rd, the "Peach Festival." It is a day to wish for every girl's healthy growth and happiness.

What Are the Meanings and Symbols?

Hina dolls act as charms. People believe they take away sickness and bad luck in place of the girls.

• Taking Your Place: Hina dolls are dolls that are thought to protect girls by taking away bad things and sicknesses that might come their way.
• Happy Marriage: The Emperor and Empress dolls on the top shelf are symbols of a happy marriage. People put them out so girls will build a wonderful family in the future.
• Peach Blossoms: Peach blossoms bloom around Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival). People say they have the power to ward off evil. They are also symbols of long life and staying young forever.

The Tiered Display of Hina Dolls

Hina dolls show what the imperial court looked like in the Heian period. Each shelf has a different role.

• First Tier: The Emperor and the Empress. They represent the Emperor and Empress, and they are the stars of the doll stand.
• Second Tier: The Three Court Ladies. They are the helpers who take care of the Empress.
• Third Tier: The Five Musicians. They are a band playing instruments to make festive music.

Food for Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival)

On Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival), people eat special foods that bring good luck.

• Hina-Arare: These are rice crackers in four colors that stand for the four seasons. People eat them so they can stay healthy all year long.
• Hishi-Mochi: These are diamond-shaped rice cakes with three colors: green, white, and pink. Each color has a good meaning, like health, purity, and chasing away evil.
• Chirashi-Sushi: This is made with lucky ingredients like shrimp, beans, and lotus root.

How to choose colors: Use fancy, gentle traditional colors!

For the Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival) coloring page, make the most of the gorgeous kimonos on the dolls and the gentle colors of peach blossoms by using lots of bright and traditional colors.

• Basic colors: Choose mostly celebration colors like red, pink, green, white, and gold.

Colors for each motif:

• The Emperor and Empress: Let's color them the most fancy. You can make them look super fancy by mixing bright and noble colors for their kimono, like red, purple, and green.
• Kimono patterns: If you use gold or silver for highlights, their kimonos will look very special and grand.
• Peach blossoms: Color the peach blossoms in the background softly with pink or light red to show the gentle warmth of spring.

How to color with a 3D look: Color the layers of the kimono carefully!

Let's color the layered fancy kimono and the 3D feel of the round face. Places in the shadow:

• Try adding "shadows" to dark spots where light does not hit, like the underside of the kimono sleeves or under the display steps! Use a darker shade than your main color to make it look 3D.

Where the light hits:

• For the dolls' faces, try coloring them peach first, and then leave a little white on the bright spots like the cheeks and forehead. This gives them a nice, soft roundness!

Let's Add Texture!

Colored pencils: If you use the tip of your colored pencils to carefully color the tiny patterns on the kimono, you can make them look like luxurious Japanese patterns. Offerings: If you clearly color the three colors of green, white, and pink on the Hishi Mochi (diamond-shaped rice cakes), they will look like real lucky items.

Tips for enjoying your coloring page!

• Wishing for girls' happiness!
  • While you color, try to color with happy wishes in your heart, imagining that the dolls are taking away any bad things for you!
• The bright beauty of spring!
  • If you gently draw soft peach petals dancing around using light pink and white, it will look even more bright and lovely for spring!

The dolls are everyone's "substitutes"

Pretty Hina dolls are not just for display. Actually, they act as "substitutes" to protect you from bad things like sickness and accidents. They take on the bad luck so it does not touch children.

Why do we set up "peach blossoms"?

Just as March 3rd is called "Peach Festival," peach blossoms are a must for Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival). People have long believed that peaches have "magic power" to drive away bad ogres and evil spirits. They are cute flowers, but they have super strong power!

The secret of the "Hina Arare" colors

The three colors of Hina Arare—pink, white, and green—have a meaning. Pink is "peach blossoms," white is "snow," and green is "new grass." They show the "arrival of spring," where snow melts, grass grows, and flowers bloom. Let's eat them and take spring's power into our bodies!

How to place "Odairi-sama" and "Ohina-sama"

The prince doll (Odairi-sama) and princess doll (Ohina-sama) sit at the very top. In Kanto, it is common to place the prince doll on the left. But in Kansai, like Kyoto, he is often placed on the right. It is fun that the rules change depending on the region!

What happens if you do not pack them away quickly?

Have you heard that if you do not pack the dolls away right after Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival), you will get married late? This is just a superstition. It carries a teaching message from long ago: "Do not become a messy person who puts off cleaning up."