Ancient Dolls of Japan: Clay and Wood

       The following dolls are known as Fushimi dolls or Koyemon dolls - Fushimi ningyo or Koyemon ningyo. Haniwa ningyo, the general and literal name of clay dolls, include many varieties and date back to the earliest primitive times. This variety had its origin in the early part of the seventeenth century. In the Genwa period (which began in 1615), Ikaruka Koyemon at Fushimi made children's toys of clay with such originality and success that folk gave him the name of Ningyoya Koyemon, "Dollmaker Koyemon." His family in succeeding generations continued the trade, so that the term Koyemon dolls came into use as descriptive of this make, later giving way to the more general application, Fushimi dolls. The first doll in here is believed to have been made by Ikaruka Koyemon himself, and bears a mark which in translation is "straight," "honest" - "the honest dollmaker." The second two were made at Fushimi, and may have been made by his family.  

Just right, Koyemon Doll (About 1620) Standing figure of a lady in winter costume, called "snow costume," as she wears an ample hood protecting her head and ears from the snow, and is dressed for outdoors. She carries a folded umbrella and appears very happy in the wintry season. For the most part the statuette is a soft and time-toned gray, with areas of a weathered and attractive pompeiian red. One of the very rare examples of the early Koyemon doll. Height, 13 3/4 inches.

       Saga Doll (About 1(550) Delicately and expressively carved figure, believed to be a portrait of the celebrated daimio Saga Taishu, when he was young. Wood, painted in vegetable colors. He is in seated posture, with hands on knees, and his flowing robes are decorated with storks and young pines and in the shokko design of old Chinese brocades, the colors various reds with green, white and gold. Height, 4 3/4 inches.

       Carved Wood Doll (About U20) Figure of a boy wearing a cap and seated on a drum, with the sticks in his hands. Face of the drum carved with the ancient temoye symbol. The wood, colored brown, has a soft and rich deep-toned patina of dull luster. The doll is said to have been made for the special use of the Shogun Yoshimasa when he was a child; it is said that he played with this doll, as well as later with gosho ningijo (palace dolls) modeled from it. Dolls of the same type are preserved in his temple, Kinkakugi, at Kioto. The production and use of dolls as toys dates from this early period of the fifteenth century, the haniwa ningyo (clay dolls) of the very ancient times having been rather mortuary statuettes than dolls in the modern sense. (Their primary use was for symbolic burial - as substitutes for the human corpus when suicide to accompany the spirit of friend or emperor to heaven was no longer compulsory.) Height, 4 1/4 inches.

See traditional doll crafts, sculpted today at 

Aoyama Square in process, English sub-titles.

Ancient Dolls of Japan: Palace Dolls, Costume Dolls, Warrior Dolls, Festival Dolls, Clay and Wooden Dolls, and Mechanical Dolls