Hina no Sato is my personal favorite site of the Konosu Surprising Dolls Festival. Moreover, it is home to the biggest hina dolls in all of Japan and they have one of the smallest too. Something they don’t seem to advertise very well. I had no idea anyway that I would have the very great pleasure of viewing these special dolls at the venue. But thankfully they are clearly marked (in Japanese) on site as Japan’s biggest and smallest. However, this year (2026) it would seem they are no longer the smallest. This location also has some really stunning hanging ‘tsurushibina’. The dolls, tsurushibina and various displays are showcased in front of and within beautiful old storehouses.
The main site of Konosu Dolls’ festival is at Elumi shopping, where you can see Japan’s largest doll pyramid. Hina no Sato is one of the five satellite sites. Of which Kakyu no Sato and Pansy House are pretty special too, but Cosmos Arena Fukiage and the Lifelong Learning Center are smaller displays. Surprisingly, Hina no Sato is the one I see least on social media, but I found the variation and set up here the best.
Hina no Sato
Hina no Sato, which is translated officially by Konosu City as the ‘Home of the Hina Dolls’, was originally storehouses for a doll merchant. Nowadays it is the main base of the Konosu City Tourism Association. It is one of Saitama Prefecture’s seven Structures of Landscape Importance. The second floor of the main building is the main offices for the tourist association. On the first floor they display products and things that Konosu is famous for and you can buy some souvenirs. Right now you can see and buy Hina dolls. They also supply information about Konosu. There is a door out into the garden on which the other side you can see the beautiful old storehouses.
The storehouses are used as the display areas for the Hina Dolls festival. One of them, the last one in the corner, you can actually go into. Downstairs, inside that storehouse, they have various displays out during the period of the festival. For most of the rest of the year, one part of it is a rest area. During the festival, the upstairs is a trove of hanging hina ‘tsurushibina’. And this is also where you can find Japan’s largest and formerly smallest ‘Odairisama’ (Emperor doll) and ‘Ohinasama’ (Empress doll). Can you make out the (formerly) smallest hina dolls in the photo below – its at the tip of the arrow!
Information
Event: Konosu Surprising Dolls’ Festival Hina no Sato Venue
Dates: from Friday February 20th to Saturday March 7th 2026.※From February 22nd to 24th there will also be cultural exhibitions including ikebana and calligraphy.
Time: from 9 am to 5 pm.
Cost: incredibly, there is no admission fee
Venue: Konosu City (industrial) Tourist Center “Hina no Sato”, 鴻巣市産業観光館「ひなの里」, 1 Chome-4-20 Ningyo, Konosu, Saitama 365-0037. View on Google Maps.
Access
Hina no Sato is located along the old Nakasendo, along a section that is also referred to as ‘Hina no Sato’. The whole area is a dolls town. The parking lot is across the road, but about 60 meters north of the buildings. The entrance is beside a delicious (and popular) Gelateria called ‘Bamboo’! By public transport you can get the Hina Loop bus on select dates and a Konosu Loop bus on weekends. On foot it is about a 15 to 20 minute walk from Konosu Station, which is on the Takasaki Line.
the detail in the doll costumes is uber impressive!
They really are remarkable.