The term ‘Dairi’ refers to the Imperial Palace, the emperor’s residence, and the pair of male and female festival dolls you see here, made in the likeness of the emperor and empress, are referred to as Dairi-bina.
As a general rule, male dolls were dressed in sokutai, the formal dress of the imperial court from the Heian Period onward, while female dolls were clad in juni-hitoe, literally meaning ‘twelve layers’ and only for very high ranked women in the court, like empress, princess, wives of court officers and high ranked servants. Within the Hinadan (tiered doll stand), they take pride of place on the topmost platform. Up until the end of the Edo Period, however, there were no decorative tiered platforms of the kind we see today, with normally only the Dairi-bina on show. As the economy grew stronger, luxurious ornaments like these became increasingly popular.