A Meiji-era style dairi. He is about 11 1/2 inches, with hat..This lady is the partner of the lord to the left. Her tiara is more “modern” than the phoenix crown worn by the older pair on the far left.
What do I mean when I characterize these dolls as belonging to the “Meiji era”? Well, I mean pretty much “late 19th-early 20th century” even though the Meiji era began in 1868, when Mutsuhito became emperor, and lasted until his death in 1912. The dolls are not from the Edo period: the lady’s kimono are dyed with a colorfast type of red that was not available early in the 19th century, and the lady’s hair and tiara are typical of a style that became popular around the 1890s, and is still used. So could the dolls have been made more recently? The combination of very high quality materials with a lot of wear and tear suggests they are older. The aesthetic of the faces suggests a 19th-century tradition, too. However, the dolls may date from later, in the 1920s or even 1930s.
The Meiji-era hina pair in profile. This is 2 images (the female is flipped). In fact, the dolls could not be positioned so close together, because of the fullness of her robes. Note that both dolls have two sets of eyebrows: the normal ones, and a dot or smudge on the forehead. This implies that they belong to the highest aristocracy; in some cases, dolls representing semi-divine persons such as the Empress Jingu have only the “skybrows” and no normal eyebrows at all.The heads are made by special artists; first the head is molded and carved on its stick, then eyes are inserted and layers of gofun are applied and polished, and finally the gofun itself is delicately carved and colored. Wigs are added; the male doll has lost his, and you can see how the groove where the hair was inserted is complemented by a painted hairline. The sticks are marked to indicate what kind of doll this is. Then they are inserted into the dolls’ bodies.The fabrics of the lady’s sleeve and the front of the lord’s kimono. Beautifully embroidered sleeve panels were typical of Meiji lady hina. Bands of material are stitched onto her sleeve to imply the many layers of kimono worn at court (up to the twelve of the junihitoe!); one band is the same luxurious gold-brocade fabric as the male wears. Her gauzy train would have extended over four padded layers of robes behind.
This is the bottom of the male doll. Note the feet, simply carved but covered with gofun. Female hina never have visible feet (it was considered immodest) but the males often do.
