Children (Ichimatsu)
Kimekomi, Gosho
Other Dolls
Kokeshi--a wonderful paper doll--a paddle "doll"--and "geisha"dolls in the range of subjects they represent.
Boys' Day
Girls' Day
Babies
Storytellers
A family--or four or five--of Kokeshi dolls. The pair at the right open and contain the smaller pair in front of them, who contain in turn the tiny pair in front. Note the couple in the straw shoe! The only ones which do not seem to have been made for export are the least-decorated pair; they are marked in Japanese and appear to be missing some kind of top piece (the wood there is not varnished). The little fellow in front was given to me around 1960 as a Christmas present by Aunt Sally and Uncle Jim--I've mislaid his mate.

This bride on a horse is made of folded paper, and was made in 1976, presumably as a souvenir since it has the date and place marked in English on the bottom. It was given as a gift by students to an American teacher. The horse is made I think of woven palmfronds.

A hagoita, or battledore (with feathered shuttlecock), a tradtional New Year's gift. The method of construction is oshi-e, or padded fabric panels arranged in a picture.

Six small dolls,  made of bundled reeds, silk, and gofun over composition.They suggest the range of Sakura or Oyama subjects: peasant girls planting rice, carrying wood, or minding an upper-class baby (the central girl of the five above has a baby peeping over her shoulder), and elegant "geisha" dancing the wisteria dance (Fuji-Musume), a ritual of blossom-viewing, or a dance of the heroic salt-carrier. Other subjects may include the Spring-Horse dance (see right), the Musume-Dojoji dance of the scorned maiden whose seven hats will become the scales of a serpent as she spins, the lion-dance with a small lion puppet, or the dance of Yaegahime carrying a helmet to her lover as he goes off to battle.
This beautiful Sakura Ningyo started me collecting Japanese dolls a few years ago. Her body is made of reeds and her skin is silk knit. The Sakura dolls represent different stories or aspects of Japanese life, and this one is a "Spring-Horse" doll, holding a horse puppet that signifies fertility. These dolls were often made at home using kits, and posed with accessories reflecting seasonal or dramatic themes.