Jin and his companions stayed at Marcia’s house after receiving permission from Marchioness Firenziano.
The next morning, Jin looked at the calendar. "It’s March starting today, huh... Speaking of March, that means it's time for Hina-matsuri."
"Onii-chan, what’s that?" Hanna overheard Jin’s murmur and piped up with a question.
"Hmm? Oh, right. It’s a festival for girls held on March 3rd."
"Oh?"
Information regarding such events from modern Japan apparently hadn't been compiled into any of the books she had read; this was the first Hanna had heard of it. Elsa also seemed to be hearing about it for the first time, and since Lishia and Marcia looked curious as well, Jin proceeded to explain Hina-matsuri to them.
"It was originally an event where people would transfer their bad luck onto dolls to purify themselves."
"Mm."
"Eventually, instead of floating the dolls down the river, people started displaying them instead."
"I see!"
"And since it involved dolls, it became a festival for girls."
"Heh..."
"Even though I say 'dolls,' there’s a male doll called an obina and a female doll called a mebina. Luxurious sets have more than that... essentially, dolls for retainers as well."
"That sounds amazing."
"Wait, wait. Retainers? Does that mean the obina and mebina are a king and queen, Jin?" Marcia asked.
"That’s the basic idea."
In reality, they were modeled after the Emperor and Empress, but Jin figured explaining the distinction would take too long, so he glossed over it for now.
"I’m a bit interested," Elsa noted.
"Mm. Alright, I did promise Hanna I’d make her a doll, so let's make some Hina dolls and set them up."
"Yay!"
Once decided, there was no time like the present. They returned to the Guest House and prepared to depart the Kingdom of Elias aboard Konron 3. After promising to invite Marcia to Kaina Village once the Hina dolls were finished, Konron 3 took to the skies with the group on board.
Jin felt a bit bad for the pilot, Edgar, but the party used a Warp Gate to head to Hourai Island ahead of him. That said, Edgar and Konron 3 would arrive only three hours later regardless.
"...It should look something like this."
Jin drew a rough sketch as he explained the concept.
"It’s unusual. But lovely," Elsa said.
"It really is. The clothes... is this the clothing of Japan?" Lishia asked, her interest drawn to the outfits.
"Well, you could say they're based on clothes from ancient Japan."
"I can't wait!" Hanna said, her excitement pure as she looked forward to the result.
"Elsa, I think I’ll have you make the faces." Jin decided. She would likely do a better job than him.
Even Jin couldn't perfectly replicate every detail of a traditional Hina doll from memory. Since he was going to add his own touches anyway, he decided to adapt them to the style of this world and left the delicate work to Elsa.
"Laojun, do we have any luxurious silk-type fabrics?"
Despite the vague inquiry, Laojun understood exactly what Jin intended to create and offered an appropriate response.
"Yes, My Lord. They are magisilk rather than ordinary silk, but we do have them in stock."
"Oh, that’s great."
"Soleil and Luna wove them, thinking that such fabrics might be necessary for your craft projects, My Lord. Please remember to praise them later."
"Understood. I’m lucky to have such capable subordinates."
"You flatter us."
When Soleil and Luna brought the fabrics over, Jin offered them his sincere compliments. "You two did a great job. This is extremely helpful."
"We are humbled," Soleil replied.
"It is an honor," Luna added.
The fabrics the two had brought were diverse, including satin, habutai, crepe, and even Nishijin-style weaves.
"There are many varieties, but the quantity of each is small," Luna noted. Despite saying that, they apparently had about five bolts of each in stock.
"One bolt is more than enough. This helps a lot."
The patterns were also varied—plain, Japanese-style, Western-style, and gold brocade; it was an ample selection.
"A small pattern would be best," Jin muttered. The dolls themselves were small, after all.
Once the fabrics were chosen, Jin began constructing the bodies. Since he didn't know the formal internal structure of a Hina doll, he used his own methods. He opted for magi-resin instead of clay, as it made subsequent fine-tuning easier.
Then, he began dressing the finished forms. The basic outfit was the twelve-layered ceremonial kimono. First came a single-layer undergarment called a hitoe. Over that went the itsutsuginu, which consisted of five layers of hitoe in different colors. He combined them so that a beautiful gradation would appear at the cuffs and collar. This was called kasane no irome, a layering of colors traditionally changed based on the season or social rank.
On top of that went the uchiginu, followed by the uwagi, and finally, a sophisticated outer garment called a karaginu was draped over everything. For the lower half, they wore nagabakama that hid the feet, with a mo train attached to the waist.
However, he didn't actually layer that many full garments. He only layered the parts that would be visible, primarily around the collar.
"Elsa, are the heads finished?"
"Mm."
"Oh, these are excellent."
He tried fitting one onto a torso. The size was perfect. Normally, the hairstyle would be the stiffly arranged osuberakashi style, but since that would be far too unfamiliar in the world of Ars, he went with a simple suihatsu style of long, flowing hair.
He made the obina in a similar fashion, though its outfit was in the ikan sokutai style. Since the mebina was finished in red tones, he made the male counterpart in blue.
Lishia peeked at Jin’s handiwork and spoke with admiration. "What interesting collars. Is that a traditional style of clothing?"
The round-collared shape was likely nonexistent in this world, so it was natural that she found it unusual.
"Yeah, I suppose it falls into that category."
Back in Japan, almost no one wore them on a daily basis outside of certain Shinto priests or those involved in traditional performing arts. Jin didn't remember the formal structure perfectly either, but it was sufficient for making dolls.
He finished the caps in an appropriate shape, giving the obina a ritual scepter and the mebina a fan. Finally, he crafted the pedestals and gold folding screens to complete the set.
Compared to modern Hina dolls, there were various things missing, but the Planet Ars version of the Hina dolls was finally complete.