花果子念報 Kakashi Spirit News

第百二十三季 弥生の二 Season 123, Yayoi issue #2 (est. 2008/04/06 ~ 2008/05/05)

インスタント雛人形が人気 Instant Hina Dolls Popular

雛祭りに求める物とは What is in demand at the Dolls' Festival?[1]

桃の節句といえば、女の子の節句である。この日になると毎年豪華な雛人形を飾り、財力を見せつける雛祭りが開催される。一部の人間は身の丈に合わない雛人形を受注し、その為に破産してしまう者も居る。そんな雛破産も、内容より実体を有り難がる人間ならではの出来事であろう。 The Plum Festival[2] is mostly a festival for girls. As part of this, the Dolls' Festival is held, allowing people to flaunt their wealth by decorating extravagant hina dolls. Some people spend more than what they're worth on the hina dolls, and end up going bankrupt as a consequence. This "Hina Bankruptcy" and the ability to appreciate objects separate from their meaning is something that is most likely distinctive to humans.

しかし最近は、そんな伝統的な雛人形も廃れつつある。非常に安価なインスタント雛人形が人気だ。 However, as of late, these traditional hina dolls are starting to slowly go out of fashion. Instead, extremely cheap instant hina dolls have become popular.

インスタント雛人形は、型紙を切って折るだけの、とても人形とは呼べない簡素な代物である。そんな紙ペラ人形が、豪華で伝統的な雛人形を駆逐しようとしている。 Instant hina dolls are made by cutting and folding paper, a simple article one would not normally consider to be a doll. These paper dolls appear to be taking the place of the traditional, extravagant hina dolls.

それを仕掛けている鍵山雛さん（厄神）はこう説明する。 The individual behind this trend, Hina Kagiyama (Misfortune God), explains:

「豪華な雛人形が伝統的だなんてナンセンスよ。貧乏人が長年使用できるように頑丈な作りにしたのが今の豪華な雛人形って訳。本当は厄を人形に溜めて、捨てる物なのよ」 "Extravagant hina dolls being traditional is just plain nonsense. Sturdy dolls made by the poor to last many years are what became the fancy hina dolls you see today. The truth is that you're supposed to throw the dolls away after filling them with misfortune."

新しい雛人形は、全て使い捨ての雛人形である。雛祭りが終わると全て川に流してしまうのだ。 The new hina dolls are made to be disposable. Once the Hina Festival is over, the dolls simply float down the river.

「川に流すのは勿体ない、って言い始めた人間が雛人形を今の形に変えたのよ。でもそのお陰で、厄払いという本来の機能が果たせなくなってしまった。だから徐々に人間の里に厄が溜まっているわ。早くそれを捨てさせないと、私の力が……」 "Humans who thought 'Letting these dolls be carried away by the river is such a waste' are the ones who made hina dolls into what they are now. As an unfortunate result, they no longer accomplish the original goal of cleansing. This has caused misfortune to slowly gather in the human village. If that's not discarded quickly, my power will..."

人間の里の厄を集める為にインスタント雛人形を作ったのだという。人間は伝統的な物にはお金と労力を掛けたがるものだが、川に流す方が本当の形と言われれば喜んで安価な方へ流れるだろう。特に捨ててしまう物には贅沢はしない。そういった真理を巧みに掴んだ、良い商売である。 With this in mind, the instant hina dolls were created with the purpose of gathering misfortune from the human village. People tend to put a lot of money and effort into tradition, but once they learn that letting the dolls float off into the river was their true purpose, perhaps they will be happy to switch to the cheaper version. There is especially no reason to be extravagant about disposable goods. Cleverly taking advantage of of this current truth is good business sense.