Hinamatsuri, The Meaning Behind The Dolls

Hinamatsuri also called Japanese Dolls Festival. If you have daughter, it’s a special day, called it Girl’s Day. As you know, girl is always loves dolls. That’s why, dolls is displayed in every single home in Japan when the time comes to celebrate this festival. Beside houses, shrines displaying it too. They are not only just dolls guys… It’s meaningful. So… these are the meanings behind the dolls…

On February 8, my friend posted some of doll pictures. At the time, I thought it was very beautiful. I asked her, about that pictures, and she told me many things. Yeah, it was on Hinamatsuri or Japanese Dolls Festival, falls annually on March 3. It’s wishes for all of girls that will grow up healthy and happy. Japanese people believed, the dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirit. My friend said, the dolls are like human, and they takes bad luck from the girl. Stars to display on February and take them down immediately after festival. If leaving the dolls past March 4 will result in a late marriage for daughter.

See on these pictures that my friend made…looks beautiful, right??…. The custom of displaying dolls began during the Heian period. I remember, at the time I asked to my friend?? “…is that king and queen…”… And my friend said “yes”. It’s representing Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musician in traditional court dress of the Heian period. And…platforms covered with a red carpet! Wow, kore wa subarashii desune!! I like that!

These are the meaning behind the dolls, yeah…I read it before on Google … Look on my friend picture, it’s seven-tiered Hina doll set (correct Miyu-san??..). The top, first platform, there are the Emperor doll and  Empress doll. These dolls are usually placed in front of a gold screen. And I saw lampstands beside the Emperor and Empress dolls. And yeah… the Empress doll holding a fan. That looks great, I like these dolls…

The second platform, there are three court ladies. The middle lady is the seated sake bearer. Do you see that on that picture guys…. I think you can see it, right??… And how about another lady whose standing on the right and left side..?? The right lady is a long-handled sake bearer, and the left is the back up sake-bearer. And you see on that picture, between these ladies any “something” looks like a table. Yeah, it’s around table guys… What is that on the top of round table, the colour looks nice and sweet, it’s a hishimochi (sweets ) guys… Do you like sweets, huh?? I think I like sweets

The third platform, there are palace traditional musician, consist of five male. As you see on my friend’s pictures, each holds musical instrument, such as small drum, large drum, hand drum, and flute. And of course it’s including the singer who hold the fan. And see that picture once again…can you see the differences?? I saw two dolls displayed higher that another. What does that mean?? It means, they are standing, and they holds large drum, and hand drum. And so is the singer, the singer is standing and holding folding fan sensu.

Fourth platform, there are two ministers. Young minister on the right side is Udaijin, and much older minister on the left side is Sadaijin. How I know which one younger minister and older minister… That’s easy, ‘cause I saw their hair colour You see, huh??..Any others else in this platform??..Yeah there are some kind of table. That’s right!! I saw on that picture is some kind like table with a bowl on top of it, and another tables looks like sweets (hishimochi), sorry if I was wrong…

Fifth platform, as you see on picture…on the right side it’s a plant, called it a cherry blossom tree (sakon no sakura) I like this flower so much and the other side, it means left side is a mandarin orange tree (ukon no tachibana). But, I am little confused ‘cause when I read on google, the right side is a mandarin orange tree, and the left side is cherry bloosom tree. But forget it… Between these plants are three samurai as the protector of the Emperor and Empress. And these are their names that I have read from google

• Maudlin drinker nakijōgo
• Cantankerous drinker okorijōgo
• Merry drinker waraijōgo

Sixth platform, there are many kind items. As you see by these picture…But I tell you what I got by reading. This is it, smaller chothing storage box (hasamibako), sewing kit box (haribako), two hibachi, cha no yu dōgo, kyōdai (mirror stand) but I wasn’t saw this on my friend picture, nagamochi (long chest for kimono storage), tansu (chest of srawers). And the last platform, means seven platform, there are some items too. They are Jubako (stiff handle that locks them together), gokago (palanquin), goshoguruma (an ox-drawn carriage favoured by Heian nobility), hanaguruma (an ox-drawing a cart of flowers).

Note :

• Photographed by Miyu Nakai
• Written by Acik Mardhiyanti / Acik Mdy
• Do not copy this article without permissions
• Do not reuse these photographs anywhere else without permissions

The House of Raminten, a House of Traditional Javanese Foods

What kind of house is this??… This is special house guys… the place where you can find traditional Javanese foods in Yogyakarta-Indonesia. So, do you like traditional foods, or are you very interesting with traditional foods?? Don’t take any longer guys… If you are visiting Yogyakarta for your holiday, come and visit this house, and you’ll get crazed in there ‘Cause they serve many kind of traditional Javanese foods, and… they looks great and tasty. Honestly, I miss this place every year

When we spent our holiday in Yogyakarta last year, we visited this place. Yeah… many times we have visited Yogyakarta-Indonesia, but only that time we went to the House of Raminten. The first time we went for dinner, and the second time we went for lunch. But…I recommend you, I think it’ll be a good time to go in there for dinner. ‘Cause on night, this place looks romantic and looks cosy It’s just what I feel….

We went to Malioboro at the evening before dinner time. Took a little time to walk around. Malioboro is one of the famous places for tourists in Yogyakarta-Indonesia. Yeah…but I’m not gonna talk about Malioboro in this article (sorry…in another time maybe). We took a taxi to go there. Actually, there are many transportations in Yogyakarta city, like a bus, trishaw, andhong (traditional transportation). We just knew The House of Raminten’s address, and we’d like to take a taxi. Yeah House of Raminten that we visited in Jalan Fardinan Muridan Noto No. 7 Gondo Kusumanan, Kota Baru, Yogyakarta. I was forgot how much we paid for taxi, but it was little cheaper when you are going with another friends

When we arrived, there are two of dragons in gate. Wow!! We were shocked! Why?? it’s very crowded, many peoples! We came in to the receptionist, register our name, and got a queue number. After registering, we wait until they call our name to go inside. One tips for you guys…if you are visiting this place, don’t come in a big group, plan max 4 person. Why?? Because when you come with a big group, you’ll be “sand man”. At that time, we registered for three persons, and we were queuing for 30 minutes for our table, and 1 hour to wait our foods 

I hate waiting time! So what can we do??.. Yeah…we walked around, bought some box of Bakpias and ate it. Do you know Bakpia Raminten Jogja is?? Bakpia is one of traditional grilled cake, filled with green bean. Or…you can buy some Raminten merchandises, like T-shirts, mugs, caps. Or…you can leave some comment about this place But…I’d love to take some Raminten cards! I think it’s unique and nice cards. You can take these cards freely!! Yeah…it’s free guys… When you see these cards, you will see who is the person behind The House of Raminten, the place where you can find traditional Javanese foods. Every single time, when I look at these cards now, I miss this place sooo much, I miss traditional Javanese foods. It looks like a male person on these cards, but why he dress up like a Javanese women in old time??…  He is a actor on stage guys… And Raminten is his name and character on stages. You can see his show in the Mirota Batik 3rd floors by free Mirota Batik’s adrress is Jalan Jenderal Ahmad Yani No. 9 Gondomanan, Yogyakarta-Indonesia (you can find it in Malioboro).

Finally, a receptionist called one of our name! The waitress took us to our table, and our table was on second floors. The design House of Raminten is unique guys…. It looks like a traditional Javanese house, everywhere is wood and wood. I like that!! And so is their waitresses, they were wearing traditional Javanese clothes. Wow!! I were very amused. And yeah…we sit on the floor (with carpet), looks like Japanese people at the moment Yeah…this is the real Javanese people guys… But one things that I hate so much, when we ate, many people smoked around us I think it would be good if  there is any room or area for smoking, or if you come here and really want to smoke, just get outside.

Many menus in The House of Raminten guys… I can’t tell you one by one. Wow…that really…really completely traditional Javanese menus. We ordered some menus that is our favourite foods. There were nasi kucing (I don’t know what you call is in English I think it spelled like “cat rice”), clam satay, golden snail satay, penyet, fried rice, es tape ketan ijo (fermented glutinous rice), cendhol, and many others….!! But for me, something special is nasi kucing. Why?? What is that kind of foods??… Don’t tell me you have visited Yogyakarta if you never had tried this menu. This is just a tiny portion, just a handful of food, consist of small portion of rice, omelette, anchovies sambal,  and sambal (tranditional Indonesia sauce). If you are stiil hungy, don’t worry, there many kind traditional Javanese foods waiting for you And so sorry we didn’t taken a food  picture while we ate, ‘cause we were exausted and tooo hungy! But sure..when you search on Google “The House of Raminten”, the menu will show up!

How about the price?? Don’t worry, it’s cheaper more than you’ve ever thought (trust me!). You just see menu, look the price, which one you want just choose it and the waitress will write your order and they will give you the bill on your table, pay on your table, before your foods comes. When your foods comes, enjoy your time. Even if there are cheaper price, but they give us delicious food. And we miss it so much! Believe it, we will come again, and again when we are visiting Yogyakarta-Indonesia in another time.

This is my story when we were visiting The House of Raminten in Yogyakarta-Indonesia. Yogyakarta is one of my favourite city to spent my holiday. And one of my favourite place to find delicious food is The House of Raminten

Note :

• Written by Acik Mardhiyanti / Acik Mdy
• Photographed by Rdz
• Do not copy this article without permissions
• Do not reuse these photographs anywhere else without permissions