he boys, one at a time, must go out in the
dark and bring back the flags, until all are brought in.

On the third day of the third month is held the Doll Festival. This is
the day especially devoted to the girls, and to them it is the greatest
day in the year. It has been called in some foreign works on Japan, the
"Feast of Dolls." Several days before the Matsuri the shops are gay with
the images bought for this occasion, and which are on sale only at this
time of year. Every respectable family has a number of these
splendidly-dressed images, which are from four inches to a foot in
height, and which accumulate from generation to generation. When a
daughter is born in the house during the previous year, a pair of hina
or images are purchased for the little girl, which she plays with until
grown up. When she is married her hina are taken with her to her
husband's house, and she gives them to her children, adding to the stock
as her family increases. The images are made of wood or enamelled clay.
They represent the Mikado and his wife; the kuge or old Kioto nobles,
their wives and daughters, the court minstrels, and various personages
in Japanese mythology and history. A great many other toys,
representing all the articles in use in a Japanese lady's chamber, the
service of the eating table, the utensils of the kitchen, travelling
apparatus, etc., some of them very elaborate and costly, are also
exhibited and played with on this day. The girls make offerings of sake
and dried rice, etc., to the effigies of the emperor and empress, and
then spend the day with toys, mimicking the whole round of Japanese
female life, as that of child, maiden, wife, mother, and grand-mother.
In some old Japanese families in which I have visited, the display of
dolls and images was very large and extremely beautiful.

The greatest day in the year for the boys is on the fifth day of the
fifth month. On this day is celebrated what has been called the "Feast
of Flags." Previous to the coming of the day, the shops display for sale
the toys and tokens proper to the occasion. These are all of a kind
suited to young Japanese masculinity. They consist of effigies of heroes
and warriors, generals and commanders, soldiers on foot and horse, the
genii of strength and valor, wrestlers, etc. The toys represent the
equipments and regalia of a daimio's procession, all kinds of things
used in war, the contents of an arsenal, flags, streamers, banners, etc.
A