Dairi Bina Dolls
25-28 cm high x
33-36.5 cm wide
Cat. 110661, 110662
Gift of Mr. A.B. Babcock
© The Field Museum
This o-bina doll, or Imperial prince doll, is dressed in the sokutai dress, a formal court lord costume originating in the Heian period (794-1192) and used still in modern times for formal ceremonies by the emperor. The color scheme is predominantly green. He wears white shitozu socks, red oguchi-bakama outer pants, and white brocade ueno-hakama pants. The akome-no-hitoe, or lowest layer of kimono, is plain unpatterned white silk and the shitagasane, a middle layer, is white silk brocade. The ho, the coat and most visible part of the dress, is green patterned brocade which matches the green brocade of the matching me-bina's uwagi, or topmost layer of kimono. The hirao-no-tare, the hanging banner from the belt in front, is very wide with three layers of blue, green, and orange brocade, with silk embroidery on the top orange layer. He has lost his hat, which would have been a kanmuri, with a long ei, most likely in the stiffened Edo style, curving up and behind the head, instead of the Heian style, which fell back against the back. This type of hat can be seen on most of the other dolls of this type in the collection, and is the formal court hat from the Heian period until today, with the hanging ei banner style changing through the years from a flat hanging style in the Heian to a stiffened version curving up and back in modern times.
This me-bina doll, or Imperial lady doll, is dressed in the junihitoe dress, a formal court lady costume originating in the Heian period, literally meaning twelve layers (of hitoe, an underlayer of kimono). The style of junihitoe worn by this doll is the style of the Edo period (1603-1868), most easily recognized by the existence of the kake-obi, or piece of over-dress vaguely resembling an apron. The color scheme includes predominantly green and orange, popular dye colors from the mid-Edo period. She wears red hakama pants and one layer of plain, unpatterned white hitoe under-kimono at the neckline. Over this are layered four uchigi, or middle layers, in patterned, brocaded silk, in white, pink, orange, and green. These can be seen layered at the neckline and also at the bottom of the sleeves. Over this is the uwagi, or topmost layer of kimono, in green brocade. Finally, she wears the karaginu over garment, in orange brocade, and the mo, the white apron which lies over the layers of uchigi in the back. This doll's mo is in poor shape, but we can still see the remains of blue painted flowers which decorated it. All four layers of uchigi kimono in the back as well as the back of the uwagi kimono layer and the long sleeves of the first layer of uchigi kimono, seen inside the other layers, are padded. The karaginu over garment is embroidered with silk as are the sleeves. She wears the hair style of osuberakashi, the formal hair style of the Imperial Court in the late Edo period, which hangs down, but has a white bow in the back. The doll may have originally also had a large metal crown, as is typical of me-bina Imperial lady dolls. These crowns, in a Chinese style, were never worn in the time period of the junihitoe, but have been a standard me-bina accessory throughout most of the history of suwaribina, the sitting hina dolls. Examples of these crowns can be seen on most of the other mebina dolls in the collection.
(Commentary by Helena Stenberg)