March (sangatsu) is also called Yayoi, meaning "plants grow luxuriantly." Plum blossoms are in full bloom and so are yellow rape flowers. Green plants also grow abundantly. The weather is getting warmer and a bit more spring-like. As cherry blossoms are seen later in the month, March is also called Sakurazuki, Kagetsu or Hanamizuki.

In the beginning of the month, on March 3, is Hina Matsuri or the Doll's Festival (also called Momo no Sekku or Joshi no Sekku). This day of praying for the growth and future happiness of young girls was originally a purification ritual. Dolls functioned as substitutes (katashiro) used to draw away impurities and malevolent spirits from people, and they were floated away in rivers and streams, or otherwise destroyed, taking human pollutants with them. Since the Muromachi period, this has changed into the custom to decorate sets of Hina dolls in the home, and enjoy certain foods as hishimochi (diamond-shaped rice cakes, colored red, white and green) and shirozake (sweet white sake).
[Photo Wikipedia]
Hina dolls are not ordinary dolls, but ceremonial dolls, a heritage of the family, sometimes handed down for generations. They are only taken out for the Doll's Festival and carefully kept in boxes during the rest of the year. They are usually put out in the second or third week of February and immediately taken away again the day after the Hina Matsuri. The classical way of display is on five or more tiered steps covered with bright red ...