Dolls that no longer have a place at home come here from all over the country.

Katsuura, a small town in the hills of Tokushima. In the centre of the Doll Culture Hall stands a pyramid of a hundred tiers, and around it more tiers, three hundred in all — some thirty thousand hina dolls, the ceremonial figures Japanese families set out each spring for their daughters. The festival began in 1989 and calls itself the original. There is a namesake in Katsuura, Chiba, on the far side of the country; it started with dolls sent from here.

The doors are open from late February to early April. The town's own puppet troupe, Katsuura-za, gives special performances of joruri, and the local mandarins are sold in a market alongside.

The dolls that arrive are given a memorial rite. Those still in good shape can be adopted, and go home with someone new.

Too precious to throw away, and no longer displayed. This is where those dolls end up — arranged, once more, for spring.