Japanese dolls
Japanese dolls are one of the traditional Japanese crafts.
There are various types of traditional dolls, some representing children and babies, some the imperial court, warriors and heroes, fairy-tale characters, gods and demons, and also people of the daily life of Japanese cities. Many have a long tradition and are still made today, for household shrines, for formal gift-giving, or for festival celebrations such as Hinamatsuri, the doll festival, or Kodomo no Hi, Children's Day. Some are manufactured as a local craft, to be purchased by pilgrims as a souvenir of a temple visit or some other trip.
History
There may be a continuity in the making of the dogū, humanoid figures, by the ancient Jōmon culture in Japan and in the Haniwa funerary figures of the subsequent Kofun culture. Expert Alan Pate notes that temple records refer to the making of a grass doll to be blessed and thrown into the river at Ise Shrine in 3 BC; the custom was probably even more ancient, but it is at the root of the modern doll festival or Hinamatsuri.In the early eleventh century, around the peak of the Heian period, several types of dolls had already been defined, as known from Lady Murasaki's novel The Tale of Genji. Girls played with dolls and doll houses; women made protective dolls for their children or grandchildren; dolls were used in religious ceremonies, taking on the sins of a person whom they had touched.
Hōko, though not explicitly mentioned in The Tale of Genji, were soft-bodied dolls given to young women of age and especially to pregnant women to protect both mother and unborn child. Sources mentioning them by name start appearing in the Heian period, but are more apparent in the Muromachi period.
Okiagari-koboshi are roly-poly toys made from papier-mâché, dating back to at least the 14th-century. They are good-luck charms and symbols of perseverance and resilience.
Probably the first professional dollmakers were temple sculptors, who used their skill to make painted wooden images of children. The possibilities of this art form, using carved wood or wood composition, a shining white "skin" lacquer called gofun made from ground oystershell and glue, and textiles, were vast.
During the Edo period, when Japan was closed to most trade, there developed both fine dollmakers and a market of wealthy individuals who would pay for the most beautiful doll sets for display in their homes or as valuable gifts. Sets of dolls came to include larger and more elaborate figures, and more of them. The competitive trade was eventually regulated by government, meaning that doll makers could be arrested or banished for breaking laws on materials and height.
Types
It was during the Edo period that most of the traditional dolls developed.dolls of the emperor and empress
- Karakuri ningyō, puppets or dolls are mechanical; they include the large figures on festival floats, for festivals like Kyoto's Gion Matsuri and smaller entertaining scenes, often with a musical element accompanying the movement. They often depict legendary heroes.
- Kokeshi dolls have been made for 150 years, and are from Northern Honshū, the main island of Japan. They were originally made as toys for children of farmers. They have no arms or legs, but a large head and cylindrical body, representing little girls. From a simple toy, it has now become a famous Japanese craft, and now an established souvenir for tourists.
- Iki-ningyō are life-sized lifelike dolls, that were popular in misemono shows. Artists made Iki-ningyō that were novel not just for their subjects that shocked viewers — figures lying in pools of their own blood, for example — but for their influence on Japanese dolls. The works of Matsumoto Kisaburō and Yasumoto Kamehachi, in particular, contributed to form an extreme sense of realism.
- Ichimatsu dolls represent 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. 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 58 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 elaborate kimono.
- Daruma are spherical dolls with red bodies and white faces without pupils. They represent Bodhidharma, an East Indian who founded Zen about 1500 years ago; according to legend, he removed his own eyelids to prevent sleep from breaking his concentration, and his limbs withered after prolonged meditation. Daruma dolls are charms to bring good fortune, continued prosperity, and fortitude to accomplish goals. Usually daruma dolls are purchased without eyes. One eye is filled when making a wish, the other when the wish is fulfilled. Wishes can be made throughout the year, but it is common in Japan to do it on New Year's Day.
- Teru teru bozu is strictly speaking not a doll. It is handmade of white paper or cloth, and hung from a window by a string to bring good weather and prevent rain.
- Hoko doll is a soft-bodied doll given to young women of age and especially to pregnant women in Japan as a talisman to protect both mother and unborn child.
- Silk-skinned or "mask-face" dolls became a popular craft in Japan in the 1920s and 1930s, allowing the individual to design elaborate kimono for dolls representing women of various periods of Japanese history, particularly the Edo period. Dolls of this type continued to be made and were a popular item for servicemen and tourists to bring back after World War II, though they also might choose dolls representing similar subjects made with gofun faces.
- Bisque dolls are made of fired clay. Fukuoka is a traditional center of the manufacture of bisque dolls, and Hakata ningyō are famous throughout Japan.
- Anesama ningyō and shiori ningyō are made of washi paper. Anesama ningyo tend to be three-dimensional, whereas shiori ningyō are flat. Anesama ningyo often have elaborate hairstyles and costumes made of high-quality washi paper. They often lack facial features. Those from Shimane prefecture are especially famous.
- A hybrid of anesama ningyō and shiori ningyō, called shikishi ningyo, has become popular in recent years. Shikishi ningyō are a type of Japanese paper dolls made with figures and scenes and are mounted on shikishi, a rectangular fancy cardboad about a square foot in size.
- More recent and less traditional Japanese dolls are ball-jointed dolls, whose growth in popularity has spread to the US and other countries since the advent of the Super Dollfie, first made by Volks in 1999. BJDs can be very realistic-looking or based more on the anime aesthetic. They are made of polyurethane resin which makes them very durable. These dolls are highly customizable in that owners can sand them, change out their wig and eye colors, and even change their face paint. Because of this hands-on aspect of customization, they are not only popular with collectors, but also with hobbyists.
Collectors
In the nineteenth century ningyo were introduced to the West. Doll collecting has since become a popular pastime in the West. Famous well known collectors from the West include individuals such as James Tissot, Jules Adeline, Eloise Thomas, and Samuel Pryor. James Tissot was known to be a religious history painter. In 1862, after attending a London Exhibition, he was drawn to Japanese art. During the 1860s, Tissot was known as one of the most important collectors of Japanese art in Paris. His collections included kosode-style kimonos, paintings, bronze, ceramics, screens and a number of bijin-ningyo. Adeline was known as a working artist and he is also known as "Mikika". Adeline produced many works throughout his career as a working artist. He is best known for his etchings and received the Cross of the Legion of Honor for his Vieuex-Roven "Le Parvis Notre-Dame". Unlike Tissot, Adeline is recognized as a true collector. A majority of Adeline’s collection consisted of ningyo, and only a few prints.
During the Meiji period, three men became pioneers in collecting ningyo, Shimizu Seifū, Nishizawa Senko, and Tsuboi Shōgorō. The three men are referred to as "Gangu San Ketsu". They introduced a systematic approach to collecting ningyo in an effort to preserve and document the various forms of ningyo. Shimizu, an artist and calligrapher, put his artistic ability to use by creating an illustrated catalog of his own collection of 440 ningyo dolls. The catalog was published in 1891, under the title Unai no Tomo. Nishizawa, a banker, gathered a significant collection on hina-ningyo. He was an active researcher, collector of stories, documents, and information relating to the development of hina-ningyo during the Edo period. Nishizawa’s son Tekiho inherited his collection but a great portion of the collection was lost in the Kanto earthquake of 1923. Tsuboi, founder of the Tokyo Anthropological Society, was the most trained of the three, and he brought a scientific element to the collecting of ningyo. Dolls have been a part of Japanese Culture for many years, and the phenomenon of collecting them is still practiced. Many collections are preserved in museums, including the Peabody Essex Museum, Kyoto National Museum, and the Yodoko Guest House.