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Shinto Deities as Sosaku Kokeshi Dolls

Any Japanese Child can tell you about Izanagi and Izanami.  Unlike Christian or Jewish concepts, Izanagi and Izanami were central deities in the Japanese story of creation.  After heaven and earth separated out of chaos, they stood on a floating bridge in heaven and put their jeweled spear down into the ocean waters and created the Japanese archipelago.

Taking a very long and complicated story, just like the Bible, I will make it short: Izanagi and Izanami had children.  The sun god was born from Izanagi's left eye and the moon god was born from his right eye, and the storm god was born out of his nose.  And of course, there were many islands as children too.  At one time, it was believed that Japan's royal family descended from this heavenly line of deities. 

Having lived in Japan, Shinto is still a very active religion - "The Ways of the Gods."  It is an ancient religion that has great respect for nature, spirits or energies that are within their island nation.  The kami (or the gods), are believed to be part of the landscape, and the gods mingle with humans, therefore, the deer in the forest and Mt. Fuji is sacred within the Shinto religion.

These Shinto Kokeshi Deities are dolls (below), they could also be a Samurai Couple or an early Emperor and Empress.  Kokeshi dolls are lathe cut simple wood dolls.  They have no arms or legs, but have a head and trunk for a body.  The head and trunk are hand painted to define the face and the body.  The body portion can have strips/patterns, floral or a landscape scene design.  In the case of this Shinto couple, they have scenes painted on their trunks, with some tree bark left by the wood lathe.  In this regard they are sosaku - creative and unique.   
Male and Female Shinto Deitiess
Paint and Cherry Wood
Made on a Wooden Lathe, Japan
Mid-20th Century
The Shinto couple are wearing their "Shozoku" or Shinto vestments complete with his headdress known as a "kanmuri".  His robe has a scene painted on it, and he might be a nobleman of the highest rank.  In the Shinto religion, the god known as "Tenjin" wears very similar vestments.  The name Tenjin is broken down into two parts:  Ten for sky and Jin for god/deity.  Tenjin is the god of academics, scholarship and learning.  Many students pray to this god for assistance and support in passing exams. Oh, also, the kokeshi couple are vintage (made sometimes in the Mid-20th Century), so she is not a priestess, however now there are women Shinto Priests.

This pair of kokeshi are not traditional Japanese dolls, they fall into a category of sosaku (creative) kokeshi.  Kokeshi dolls are handmade by craftsmen most frequently near onsens (hot-spring areas used as vacation spots in north-east Japan), where vacationers that felt rejuvenated from the spa - healing water, brought them home to their towns and villages as mementos for their neighbors.  These neighbors later passed them onto their children/grandchildren.  It is now most common for the craftsmen to sign their dolls on the bottom or on the backs.  Some kokeshi doll experts can look at certain dolls and tell you exactly what region they came from and what family crafts-persons made the dolls.  These experts know by examining the wood, and style of painting.  It is estimated that there are at least eleven major kokeshi regional doll types-styles.       
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©2020.  Waller-Yoblonsky is a research collaborative created to track the work of craftspeople around the world and report on topics of interest.  Mr. Waller and Mr. Yoblonsky lived in Japan in 2008-2009.   
The photo in this blog is by Mr. Waller, and all written materials are used under the Fair Use Section 107, Copyright Act, unless otherwise noted.  #waller-yoblonskyblogspot  #kokeshi  #sosukukokeshi



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