On the top floor of the Matsuya Department Store in the Ginza shopping district of Tokyo, was a large exhibit space that rotated shows about every two weeks. It was one of my favorite places to visit, as there were fine artists and craftsmen showing their creations with the assistance of the most attentive staff and sales associates. They always exemplified elegance and class.
During a drop-by-visit, there was a Ichimatsu doll exhibit. Dolls are dolls, a play thing, until they become an artform. The exhibit was part educational seminar and part wonderment. These Japanese dolls were not produced on a factory floor with production quotas. Each doll was handmade with painstaking details by an artisan that rendered a doll with personality, charm and beauty.
The keeper of all knowledge, Wikipedia, describes Ichimatsu dolls this way: the doll represents little girls or boys, correctly proportioned and usually with flesh-colored skin and glass eyes. The original Ichimatsu were named after an 18th-century Kabuki actor, and must have represented an adult man, but since the late 19th century the term has applied to child dolls, usually made to hold in the arms, dress, and pose (either with elaborately made joints or with floppy cloth upper arms and thighs). Baby boy dolls with mischievous expressions were most popular in the late 19th and early 20th century, but in 1927 the friendship doll exchange involved the creation of fifty-eight 32" dolls representing little girls, to be sent as a gift from Japan to the United States, and the aesthetic of these dolls influenced dollmakers to emulate this type of a solemn, gentle-looking little girl in an elaborate kimono.
These elaborate dolls require the artisan to be a multifaceted craftsperson; makeup artist, hair-stylist, fashion consultant and tailor/seamstress. The artisan starts by creating a head out of wood composition, that is almost like sawdust. This material is mixed with polymers that give it a moldable texture like clay and it is placed in a two-part mold, which is assembled to create the head shape. The ears are also created the same way in another mold. This composition material is used as it will not crack, unlike a wooden carved head.
Once the head and ears are dried, the head is removed from the mold and all the rough spots are sanded down, and the ears are attached and the glass eyes are set and attached with gelatin adhesive. Next the artisan enhances the facial features if needed and creates the skin tone look by creating gofun, a chalk plaster liquid material. According to Professor Judy Shoaf, University of Florida, “Gofun is somewhat mysterious, a professional secret concocted according to various recipes from rice glue and ground oyster-shells. It must be applied in many thin layers with care to avoid impurities, and buffed repeatedly to obtain the glowing white surface which is so distinctive.”
The artisan removes the gofun from the glass eyes, adds colored pigments to the face to create the correct tinted flesh-tone and then begins to paint eyebrows and eyelashes so fine that it takes a single haired bush to paint each hair. The lips are painted with a red-pink gloss and the artisan starts on the hair. The hair is made out of fine dyed black silk thread that is combed and attached to the scalp. The threads are cut and styled.
In the case of the Ichimatsu doll below by “Kyugetsu'' with its identification plaque, is most likely crafted in Tokyo. Currently at Kyugetsu, there are at least three mastercraftsmen still working there. The seamstress created a multi-layered graduated furisode kimono. A furisode kimono is the most formal style worn by unmarried women in Japan, made of very fine, brightly colored silk. Young women wear these outfits when celebrating “Coming of Age Day” the year that they turn 20. In the case of this little girl, she is dressed in a scarlet figured silk kimono with cherry and plum blossoms.
During a drop-by-visit, there was a Ichimatsu doll exhibit. Dolls are dolls, a play thing, until they become an artform. The exhibit was part educational seminar and part wonderment. These Japanese dolls were not produced on a factory floor with production quotas. Each doll was handmade with painstaking details by an artisan that rendered a doll with personality, charm and beauty.
The keeper of all knowledge, Wikipedia, describes Ichimatsu dolls this way: the doll represents little girls or boys, correctly proportioned and usually with flesh-colored skin and glass eyes. The original Ichimatsu were named after an 18th-century Kabuki actor, and must have represented an adult man, but since the late 19th century the term has applied to child dolls, usually made to hold in the arms, dress, and pose (either with elaborately made joints or with floppy cloth upper arms and thighs). Baby boy dolls with mischievous expressions were most popular in the late 19th and early 20th century, but in 1927 the friendship doll exchange involved the creation of fifty-eight 32" dolls representing little girls, to be sent as a gift from Japan to the United States, and the aesthetic of these dolls influenced dollmakers to emulate this type of a solemn, gentle-looking little girl in an elaborate kimono.
These elaborate dolls require the artisan to be a multifaceted craftsperson; makeup artist, hair-stylist, fashion consultant and tailor/seamstress. The artisan starts by creating a head out of wood composition, that is almost like sawdust. This material is mixed with polymers that give it a moldable texture like clay and it is placed in a two-part mold, which is assembled to create the head shape. The ears are also created the same way in another mold. This composition material is used as it will not crack, unlike a wooden carved head.
Once the head and ears are dried, the head is removed from the mold and all the rough spots are sanded down, and the ears are attached and the glass eyes are set and attached with gelatin adhesive. Next the artisan enhances the facial features if needed and creates the skin tone look by creating gofun, a chalk plaster liquid material. According to Professor Judy Shoaf, University of Florida, “Gofun is somewhat mysterious, a professional secret concocted according to various recipes from rice glue and ground oyster-shells. It must be applied in many thin layers with care to avoid impurities, and buffed repeatedly to obtain the glowing white surface which is so distinctive.”
The artisan removes the gofun from the glass eyes, adds colored pigments to the face to create the correct tinted flesh-tone and then begins to paint eyebrows and eyelashes so fine that it takes a single haired bush to paint each hair. The lips are painted with a red-pink gloss and the artisan starts on the hair. The hair is made out of fine dyed black silk thread that is combed and attached to the scalp. The threads are cut and styled.
In the case of the Ichimatsu doll below by “Kyugetsu'' with its identification plaque, is most likely crafted in Tokyo. Currently at Kyugetsu, there are at least three mastercraftsmen still working there. The seamstress created a multi-layered graduated furisode kimono. A furisode kimono is the most formal style worn by unmarried women in Japan, made of very fine, brightly colored silk. Young women wear these outfits when celebrating “Coming of Age Day” the year that they turn 20. In the case of this little girl, she is dressed in a scarlet figured silk kimono with cherry and plum blossoms.
Ichimatsu Doll by Kyugetsu, Purchased in the Ginza District of Tokyo
The rest of this doll’s kimono outfit consists of a silk brocade obi with a butterfly bow in the back, obijime (a central cord that ties around the front of the obi) and obiage (obi scarf around the top of the obi) to help hold the rear obi knot in place. There is a piece of toy jewelry that is tucked at the top of the obiage, called an obidome. Below the obi is a scarf like sash that hangs down known as an obijime. I need to explain when I first moved to Japan, I was sent to live with a family in Kanazawa and my host father was a master-kimono artist and his wife, my host mother wore a kimono everyday. It is difficult to explain to the non-Japanese world.
The doll wears traditional Japanese white tabi toe socks on her feet. The doll's black straight hair is cut and combed in the fashion of the Taisho era (1912-1924), and stands on a wooden plaque as if she is waiting for the next Hina Matsuri (doll festival) to celebrate little girls everywhere and to pray for their continued health and happiness. One reason vintage Japanese dolls remain in such good condition is that they only come out of the box for a short time every year for this festival. Hina Matsuri is observed on March 3rd.
There are a lot of criteria that makes a doll great. This is now a vintage doll made in the late Showa era, circa 1980s, and uses some nearly unseen items that would not be used on an antique doll, such as her plastic hands hidden in her kimono sleeves. Time will determine if this design element will reduce collectability in the future. Yet, one element regarding collectability that overrides everything else is cuteness. A freshly made-to-ordered doll of this quality would cost over $1,000 USD, yet many vintage dolls like this one are selling on ebay for a fraction of that number.
Here are two other examples of dolls by mastercraftsmen:
Reference Notes:
Judy Shoaf, Traditional Doll Construction, University of Florida, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences - website, December 15, 2015.
Wikipedia, Japanese Dolls, Wikipedia Foundation Inc., Last updated: March 5, 2020.
Alan Scott Pate, Japanese Dolls, The Fascinating World of Ningyo, Tuttle Publishing, 2008,
The doll wears traditional Japanese white tabi toe socks on her feet. The doll's black straight hair is cut and combed in the fashion of the Taisho era (1912-1924), and stands on a wooden plaque as if she is waiting for the next Hina Matsuri (doll festival) to celebrate little girls everywhere and to pray for their continued health and happiness. One reason vintage Japanese dolls remain in such good condition is that they only come out of the box for a short time every year for this festival. Hina Matsuri is observed on March 3rd.
There are a lot of criteria that makes a doll great. This is now a vintage doll made in the late Showa era, circa 1980s, and uses some nearly unseen items that would not be used on an antique doll, such as her plastic hands hidden in her kimono sleeves. Time will determine if this design element will reduce collectability in the future. Yet, one element regarding collectability that overrides everything else is cuteness. A freshly made-to-ordered doll of this quality would cost over $1,000 USD, yet many vintage dolls like this one are selling on ebay for a fraction of that number.
Here are two other examples of dolls by mastercraftsmen:
Ichimatsu Infant Doll by Kyugetsu, Purchased in Yokohama
Straw based body Doll, Signature on the lacquered wooden plaque
Judy Shoaf, Traditional Doll Construction, University of Florida, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences - website, December 15, 2015.
Wikipedia, Japanese Dolls, Wikipedia Foundation Inc., Last updated: March 5, 2020.
Alan Scott Pate, Japanese Dolls, The Fascinating World of Ningyo, Tuttle Publishing, 2008,
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