Rare Japaneses Kakeshi Dolls
R700.00
• Price does not include delivery if required.
• Please ensure you have read our FAQ.
Initially crafted as toys for farmer’s children by woodturners who would otherwise make bowls and plates, kokeshi’s former design was simplistic but gradually painted with facial expressions and kimonos. The dolls were given as gifts on the birth of a child with the baby’s name painted on the back of the body, adding to the idea and feelings of nostalgia, a notion in Japanese society.
Despite no formal connection with the Shinto religion, Tōhoku’s spirituality has always been immersed and connected with the forests, nature, and animism and the dolls were an anchor of life for the villages of the region. It is thought that given the Onsen origin of the kokeshi dolls, their shape hints at the possibility that they were used as a massage tool in the springs.
Originally standing at 30cm tall, kokeshi dolls are characterized by their limbless bodies and heads that sit disproportionately to their frames. Their painted faces — applied in single strokes using a weasel-fur brush and a simple palette of black, red, and green — pose a variety of facial features, often dependent on their place of origin. Hand-carved on a lathe using cherry wood or dogwood, their creators, or masters, do every part of the crafting process themselves, bar the chopping of the trees. Tools are also created by the craftsman, due to, in part, a lack of blacksmiths skilled in the creation of the chisel tool, but also for varieties of comfort.
Dimensions:
Female
6cm wide x 13cm tall
Male
7cm wide x 15cm tall
The Males head spring is a bit worn hence he is taller.
The woman’s hat was chipped away
They are truly special.
toward the end of the Edo period [1603 – 1868 CE].
3 Steps on how to purchase an item:
1. Feel free to email, message or call us at 0714095824
2. To purchase, name the item that you interested in.
3. Viewings are made via appointments.
You may then arrange courier, collection or get it delivered by us.
To secure sales we humbly require payments or deposits until collected. We cannot keep stock for longer than a week, unless arranged.