Usaburo Kokeshi:
A New Branch for Wooden Dolls Linka Wade (Gunma)
Have you ever walked into a Japanese souvenir shop and seen rows of beautifully carved and painted wooden dolls? These are kokeshi, one of Northern Japan’s most well known traditional art forms. You’ve seen them everywhere from antique markets to keychains. The wooden dolls come in all different styles and shapes, frequently depending on the region the artisan is from. Eleven styles in total are found throughout the Tohoku area, the home of kokeshi. Kokeshi makers in the region have created their own signature styles for painting faces or designs, and even shaping the body of the doll. Its history goes back to the Edo Period. At Togatta onsen in Miyagi prefecture, wood craftsmen called kijishi branched out from their traditional wares to carve dolls. The dolls were decorated with scenes from around the area and were sold as souvenirs to the onsen visitors. The fad quickly spread to other onsen in the region. Because kokeshi is written only in hiragana, there’s no distinct meaning assigned to the word, but they were still viewed as good luck charms. Visitors came to onsens to improve their health and relax. When they left, their souvenir dolls came to signify good luck and well-being. Kokeshi are characterised by wooden bodies with round heads, usually painted with a black, red, and yellow motif. They feature more rustic styles being carved simply from one piece of wood. There really are a lot of styles that make it hard to define what a kokeshi is. However, if they’re shaped like cute girls with smooth, dark wood for hair—chances are pretty high that those kokeshi were
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