桜に犬張子貝合図

Together with the cherry blossoms, the images here indicate the girls’ doll festival, or hinamatsuri, traditionally observed on the third day of the third lunar month. The painting is therefore a festive celebration of spring.

The clamshells were used for a matching game, with identical motifs or parts of a poem painted on the inner faces of corresponding halves. The shells were placed painted sides down and turned over one at a time.

The dog-shaped box with a child’s face was given to an expectant mother. The dog symbolized ease and safety of delivery for the mother, and was also a talisman to ward off evil for the child.