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.
Mandy Bartok @mandy.bartok
Japan resident for 10 years, with time spent in Okinawa, Kumamoto and Tokyo.
