Early Feb
Mid Mar
Hina Dolls on display in Toyama Memorial Museum.
Hina Dolls on display in Toyama Memorial Museum. (Photo: Lynda Hogan)

The World of Hina in a Period House

The annual dolls display at Toyama Memorial Museum

Lynda Hogan   - 1 min read
Venue : Toyama Memorial Museum When : Early Feb - Mid Mar 2025

"The World of Hina" is an annual hina dolls display in celebration of the Hina Matsuri, Dolls Festival at the Toyama Memorial Museum. Toyama Memorial Museum is a designated cultural property due to the history and artefacts within and for the aesthetics of the former home of Genichi Toyama, the founder of Nikko Securities.

Hina Matsuri is on March 3rd. However, most places display their dolls from early February to mid March. The display in the Toyama heritage home is the hina dolls set of the former residents. There is also a large "kura" (storehouse / warehouse) on the grounds that was converted into a museum. In this museum, there are even more Hina Dolls on display. None of the displays are particularly large, but if you are interested in having an uninhibited view into a former Japanese home and storehouse, Toyama is a good place to do it. Another advantage is that the place is rarely busy.

The displays generally go up from the first Saturday in February until the second Sunday in March. In 2021, the dates are from February 6th to March 14th.

Getting there

By public transport: The nearest bus stop is a 15 minute walk from the museum. Buses for the "Ushigayato bus stop" go from JR Okegawa Station and Kawagoe station. Please note they are very infrequent.

By car: the museum is about a five minute drive from the Kawajima Interchange of the Ken-o expressway.

Lynda Hogan

Lynda Hogan @lynda.hogan

Lynda has been in Japan for 20 years and blogging about Saitama on her personal blog insaitama.com for 14 of them.  Despite its central location, just North of Tokyo, Saitama is still quite unknown to the international tourist, but frequented by domestic travelers. It is a great place to experien...