This article is dedicated to my Japanese (nihongo) Sensei, Atsuko Kuwana, who helped me learn to speak Japanese.
Collectors come in all varieties, some plan their collections, others start by chance. I saw my first kokeshi（こけし） wooden doll in 2005 while participating in a grassroutes exchange program between the U.S. and Japan. I was staying with a family near Nagoya and the couple’s young daughter had one. Years later when I was named a Mike Mansfield Fellow from the U.S. government to the Japanese government, and was living in Japan, I would see them frequently at flea markets and souvenir shops next to the natural hot spring resorts in the area known as Tohoku.
Before leaving for Japan, I studied all things Japanese at the George Shultz Foreign Service Institute (FSI), including a professor that covered domestic and family life and some short statements on kokeshi. After arriving in Japan, the National Personnel Authority (jinjiin) was responsible for my continued studies, beyond my work at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Government Building Department.
After nearly a year, the small buffet in the dining area of our Tokyo apartment was covered with kokeshi dolls. The vast grouping was standing attentively, eventually, they were packed and returned home where they were left in a box for over ten years. Opening the box, sent me on a course of discovery, in our apartment they all looked strangely similar, now I could see the differences and nuances of these different dolls, there was no sameness. After some study, the obvious diversity of these hand-crafted dolls will capture your attention and delight your soul.
Our Collection of Traditional Kokeshi Dolls
The road to discovery of my collection had me reading and pondering the experts opinion’s and identification criteria for traditional kokeshi. As I write “Traditional Kokeshi” Jennifer E. McDowell, in her Doctoral Thesis, would recoil from these two words printed together. As part of her research in the Tohoku region (the northern portion of Honshu), woodcrafters (kijin) believe there are just “kokeshi” and “creative kokeshi” (sosaku kokeshi). McDowell’s Anthropology Doctoral Dissertation can be found on Scholar Google and covers all things kokeshi. Then there is Alan Scott Pate, antique and unique Japanese doll dealer and author, for the truly high end collectables. He lectures at doll shows and assists museums in curating exhibits. However, if you are a novice like me, the documentation work of Itske Stern, a happen-chance collector is a great resource for identifying your dolls beyond what I am providing in this blog.
Japanese Craftsman Making a Kokeshi
Naruko Wooden Toy Association
Kokeshi dolls are wood lathe cylindrical, and usually made in two pieces: the head and the body. The craftsman creates the head with a stem-plug that is forced into a tight hole in the body. The tight fit produces a high squeaking sound when the head is twisted known as ki-ki or kyu-kyu sound. Fine collectors do not recommend turning the heads, as it can damage the dolls. Beyond the stem-plug method, some of the creative dolls are put together with a dowel that joins the two parts.
Most dolls are made out of dogwood, cherry and maple, yet other woods do exist. Before making a doll, the wood needs to be cured correctly, if curing happens too quickly the wood will crack. Additionally the wood needs to be inspected for insect infestation. The earliest dolls were created with a hand-lathe where a couple would work in unison to turn the doll, now in modern times dolls are made on a power lathe, as shown above.
The doll’s distinctive body is minimal, no arms, hands nor feet and most likely the first ones were made out of leftover lumber. While the doll appears simple, it requires an extensive process including: cutting or gathering/purchasing the wood, seasoning the wood, splitting it into quarters for the lathe, rough cutting, fine cutting, sanding, painting the stripes on the doll while still attached to the lathe, using fine calligraphy brushes to paint the details (eyebrows and facial features), then waxing and polishing the doll.
Japanese Craftsman Painting Facial Features with a Calligraphy Brush
Naruko Wooden Toy Association
These craftsmen must continuously sharpen their tools, use high-quality sandpaper, monitor their calligraphy brushes, and get the finest water-based pigments or black ink (sumi) that needs to be mixed with gelatin so the paint/ink does not run. It has been noted by some craftsmen that Chinese brushes fray and do not meet the painterly qualities needed to paint the facial features, therefore only the finest Japanese brushes will do. Serious collectors place their dolls in locations where there is limited sunlight and no exposure to wetness, as water-based pigments will fade and water exposure will cause damage. After examining all the required tools, equipment, steps and details; the craftsmen’s comprehensive process explains the costs of the finest kokeshi dolls.
Japan still continues to believe in craft apprenticeships. It is not uncommon for a son and nowadays a daughter to study for years under a father who is a mastercraftsman, learning every painstaking detail of the craft. Currently there are three noted craftswomen that head their own operations. The producing family continues to honor the methods that were used in production for years, rarely drifting from traditional designs. These handed down traditional kokeshi come from ten production centers with eleven strains or varieties.
McDowell uses an almost scientific approach to all the different distinguishing characteristics and uses the concepts of “strains” when identifying a doll. In this regard, each of these production locations have their own DNA markers that produce the distinguishing marks or traits that highlight the differences amongst the dolls. These distinguishing traits are used to identify one of the eleven strains. They are: Tsugaru, Kijiyama, Nanbu, Naruko, Hijiori, Sakunami, Yamagata, Yajiro, Tsuchiyu, Togatta, and Zao. Classification Map shown below.
Illustration and Text by Tatsuya Higouta, Graphic Designer & Artist
When looking at the different strains of the traditional (dento) kokeshi, collectors need to look at the body type: straight cylindrical, a tapered cylindrical, the slight concave cylindrical aka the bell shape, thick and stocky cylindrical and the full body with an almost female form cylindrical. When it comes to modern-creative kokeshi, some come with raw tree bark still in the cylindrical shape.
The shoulders also have shapes, some have a gradual tapering to the neckline, others have a more severe shoulder treatment as with the Narugo dolls. Beyond the body types, the painted elements provided distinguishing traits. These painted elements include eyes, eyebrows and nose shapes, hairstyles and body decoration. Even within the same strain, the hand painted facial features vary from doll to doll, some are happy, others are whimsical and yet others appear serious. Stern notes that the “spirit” of the Tohoku region is represented in the faces of the dolls.
Some dolls have almost targets painted on the top of their heads with radiating circles known as janome. Stern’s research points out that the circular pattern enables a good spirit to find its way in through the doll, like a bull’s eye on a target range. The kokeshi makers say that their spirit is within the dolls they make. For Americans who have not lived in Japan and do not understand Shinto philosophy, this might seem odd, yet in Shinto there are spirits within nature, landscape, animals, humans as well as things.
Also, most dolls are painted with red ink. In earlier times, the red ink was used in the belief that it had the power to ward off evil and counteract smallpox and other maladies prevalent at the time. With this belief, a kokeshi with red ink served as a protector to a child as well as a wonderful toy. Additionally, Stern and my professor at FSI both noted that there was another purpose for kokeshi dolls, they were gifts to mothers who had lost a child through illness or death; becoming ritualistic substitutes for the children who had perished.
Collectors interested in traditional kokeshi should look for balanced dolls between their heads and bodies, the painted faces should express emotion that speaks to you, and the painted body should be bold, and typical within the strain of that doll. Below, I am providing examples of six strains of dolls. Each will be labeled with descriptions to help you in identifying your doll, or dolls within your collection. Please remember that there are endless variations that exist beyond my collection. There is also a website called “soulportal.com” that provides numerous photos of kokeshi that can be an additional resource.
Traditional Kokeshi
Fig. 1, A Togatta monumental doll, 24 inches tall. The kimono is painted in a chrysanthemum calligraphy pattern, with black bangs on the forehead and split bangs on the sides. The painted designs on the sides of her head looks like a headdress known as tegara. The eyebrows and eyes take on a single stroke thumbnail design, and the nose is two black strokes. It is a two piece construction, signed.
Fig. 1 Fig. 2
Fig. 2, A pair of Sakukunami monumental sisters with red-painted necklines and Japanese number eight (hachi 八) noses. The upper body is thick and then becomes concave, painted in a stylized chrysanthemum/flower design. The taller one is 18 inches and the shorter is 13.5 inches. Signed.
Fig. 3. Below is an example of a monumental Oshin doll. The body is very much like a Naruko doll, thick with a concave indentation for the waist and shoulders. She has full facial features with a “U” shaped nose, and a bob haircut painted on her head, with a target top head. This doll is a single piece of wood.
Fig. 3. Full Oshin Doll and Facial Feature Detail
Fig. 4
Fig 4. These are dolls from Naruko and fit into the Naruko strain. They tend to be more squatterly figures with an hollowed out neckline, as shown here. These dolls are two piece construction and the painted combed bangs are a defining element, along with side bangs.
Fig. 5 Full Tsuchiyu Strain Doll with Facial and Side of the Head Detail
Fig. 5. This is a Tsuchiyu doll from Fukushima, has a slender body, and a target painted head, illustrated earlier. The side of her head is a swirl decoration and her facial features include crescent moon eyebrows, double lid eyes, and a “U” nose. Her body was painted while still on the lathe.
Fig. 6. This pair of dolls is from the Yajiro strain and are made in a mountain village of Miyagi Prefecture. These dolls have hand-painted patterns from the neckline all the way to the base, with targets on the top of their heads, and a half of a red-dot on the top of their foreheads.
Fig. 7. This Togatta doll is dressed in a black painted plum blossom styled kimono. She is most simple as the craftsman used only black sumi ink to create the features, hair and outfit for this doll. This makes her a variation on other traditional red and black painted Togatta dolls.
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Sosaku Kokeshi
Tourist Souvenir Kokeshi to Remember a
Great Vacation Get-Away
As a happen-chance collector, I have ended up with a variety of kokeshi; traditional ones as discussed above, creative (sosaku) kokeshi, tourist souvenir kokeshi and what I will describe as bad mass-produced kokeshi. The mass-produced ones were clearly purchased during a moment of inexperience and a lack of understanding of quality.
I happen to love vintage sosaku kokeshi that have character and style. When shopping for these dolls make sure they have hand-inked signatures, and elements that convey an artisan-craftsman touch. I prefer sosaku kokeshi from after the US occupation, circa early to mid-1960s to 1970s. Below are examples.
Fig. 8. This is a pair of cute (kawaii) sisters with their wooden cap hairdo and attached bows, dressed in carved plum blossom kimonos. The head and hairdo are all one piece, creating an artistic challenge to the craftsman. He scores the hairdo with lines to create the perfect bob looking cut. The kimono body is also scored wood, creating the “V” neckline and the drape of the kimono. These dolls appear to be “Miyashita Hajime” style, a noted craftsman now retired.
Fig. 8
Fig. 9. This popular fashion sosaku doll with its top-knot and hair pin, is listed as a “Hajime” kokeshi doll. She wears a sprayed sumi ink crane shadow kimono.
Fig. 10. Unknown sosaku kokeshi mother and infant doll. The fashionable mother has a female form, a top-knot hairdo and a hand-carved and painted kimono with matching obi. The head is doweled into the body, and the baby’s head is also doweled into the body. Signed.
Fig.9 Fig. 10
Conclusion:
The story of kokeshi is wide and varied and far from finished. The sheer diversity of kokeshi, craftsmen, and doll myths would provide a lifetime of study and entainment. The story started over two years ago, yet still today, there are contemporary versions and variations, and new innovations to the old traditional kokeshi are being designed and crafted. This Japanese craft is continuing to be built for child amusement and collectors fascination.
Reference Notes:
www.kokeikan.com, website for the Japan Kokeshi Museum, Naruko Osen, Osaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, tracks current kokeshi craftsmen and craftswomen.
www.nippon.com, “Kokeshi” Dolls Enjoy a Surge of Renewed Interest, Shoepress, Apr. 10, 2020. Japanese Travel log.
Tatsuyu Higouti, Classification of Kokeshi, Text and Illustration of a Map of the Tohoku region, he works on Kokeshi illustrations, Higouti is a noted Graphic Designer-artist, b. 1973.
Diane Durston, Japan Crafts Sourcebook, A Guide to Today’s Traditional Handmade Objects, Kodansha International, 1996, page 184.
Jennifer E. McDowell, Kokeshi: Continued and Created Traditions (Motivations for a Japanese Folk Art Doll), for a PhD in Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, 2011.
Itske Stern, Kokeshi Dolls, Daruma Issue 23, Summer 1999, pages 52-55, and Daruma Issue 38, Durama Magazine, 2003, pages 47-54.
Alan Scott Pate, Japanese Dolls, The Fascinating World of Ningyo, Tuttle Publishing, 2008, pages 168-175.
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