Yanagawa Sagemon Tour

Stunning displays for the Doll Festival

By Mandy Bartok

Community writer

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Yanagawa's tourism office in the canal district often boasts one of the most impressive displays

These Hina dolls and sagemon were hidden away on the second floor of one of the city's famed eel restaurants

Yanagawa temari are hand-stitched by female relatives in the family after a daughter is born

Yanagawa temari are often displayed next to the dolls themselves or hung from sagemon

You can buy your own set of dolls (hand-made by local women)

The animals on each of the sagemon hold special meanings, such as patience, strength and perserverance

If you can't be in Yanagawa for the canal city's impressive Doll Festival parade, you can still enjoy the celebrations for Girls' Day by touring the various sagemon displays. The sagemon are Yanagwa's unique hina decorations, usually involving a mobile that is adorned with cloth animals and figures and hand-woven balls. The sagemon are often hung next to multi-tiered hina doll sets. Over thirty of Yanagawa's shops, restaurants and private homes put up the sagemon displays for the months of February and March. A map listing all of the sagemon spots is available from the local tourism office and the buildings themselves are marked with a pink flag.