The children had plenty to see to keep them amused. There were visits to the theaters, sometimes the performances lasted all day, in which were displayed the doings of historical peoples and lore heroes. There were all kinds of gymnastic feats and juggling of various kinds. "At the fair at Asakusa, in addition to the performances of jugglers of all kinds, there are collections of animals which have been taught to perform tricks--bears of Yezo, spaniels which are valuable in proportion to their ugliness, educated monkeys and goats. Birds and fish are also displayed in great quantities. But the most astonishing patience is manifested by an old Corean boatman, who has trained a dozen tortoises, large and small, employing no other means to direct them than his songs and a small metal drum. They march in line, execute various evolutions, and conclude by climbing upon a low table, the larger ones forming, of their own accord, a bridge for the smaller, to whom the feat would otherwise be impossible. When they have all mounted, they dispose themselves in three or four piles like so many plates."[122] Among the leading amusements were the Festivals. These were of frequent occurrence and of the greatest diversity, so that the young people had plenty to amuse them. There were five great annual Festivals, which were the Festival of the New Year, the Festival of the Dolls, the Festival of the Banners, the Feast of Lanterns, and the Feast of Chrysanthemums. The New Year Festival occurred on the first day of the first month of the old Japanese year. At this time congratulations and presents were much given and taken. This was a time for pleasure and all the members of the family laid aside their work and their dignity and entered into the fun and the sport that characterized this festival. The Festival of the Dolls occurred on the third day of the third month. This day was especially devoted to the girls, and to them it was the greatest day of the year. All the dolls belonging to the family were brought out and which had been accumulating in some families for hundreds of years. When a daughter was born in a home, two images of wood or enameled clay were bought for her, with which she played, and when she was married she took them to her new home and kept them for her children, as well as any other dolls she might have. "The Tokugawa collection, of which I have spoken, is remarkably full and costly, for it has been making for hundreds of years in one of the younger branches of a family which for two and a half centuries was possessed of almost imperial power, and lived in more than imperial luxury; but there are few households so poor that they do not from year to year accumulate a little store of toys wherewith to celebrate the feast, and, whether the toys are many or few, the feast is the event of the year in the lives of the little girls of Japan."[123]