Ancient Dolls of Japan: Palace Dolls

        The dolls immediately following, all palace dolls (Gosho ningyo, - a term which includes all palace dolls), are specifically classified in Japan as hadaka ningyo ("nude dolls"), in contradistinction to the elaborately costumed dolls, many of which will follow in another group. The term "nude" is relative, however, all of the hadaka ning-yo wearing the characteristic single garment of infant boyhood in Japan, - the munekake, (literally, "chest protector"). These garments, on the dolls, are all of silk.
       The gosho ningyo made their appearance in Japan prior to the Genroku period (1688), and have held their fashionable sway ever since, as they do today, and have been made continuously through these centuries. Those in the following group are from one hundred to two hundred years old. This name, gosho ningyo, they received in the old capital, Kyoto. In Yeddo (Tokyo) they were and are called omiyage ningyo, "souvenir dolls," because in the olden days the Court nobles, journeying down to Tokyo (Yeddo), customarily took some of these dolls with them and presented them as souvenirs. In Osaka they have still another name, being called Idzakura ningyo, after the doll seller Idzakura, who handled them there.

       Five Miniature Palace Dolls Above: A boy wearing a lightly gilded cboshi (ancient cap), another holding a puppy under his arm, a third holding what appears to be a lotus bud in both arms, a fourth in a silk cap with both hands on his knees, and a fat-cheeked baby playing with a fan. 

      Palace Doll: (About 1775) Boy with takeuma - the "bamboo horse," as the Japanese call the hobby horse, because their boys often use the bamboo stick to straddle and play horse, as boys do with other sticks the world over. In the case of the doll a horse's head, painted and gilded, is attached to a short make-believe straddle-stick, and the seated doll boy holds the reins in a perfectly satisfactory position. He wears the jimbe, or sleeveless coat, in addition to the munekake, and both are embroidered with peonies in colored silks and gold. Silk cushion. Height, 10 inches.

       Palace Doll Group: (About 1690) The Precocity of Sze Ma Kwang; an episode in the early life of the eleventh century Chinese statesman, often used to inculcate the virtue and value of quick thinking and readiness in Japanese boys, but extremely rare in such an extensive illustration as this. Those who have studied the imagery of sword guards and netsukes will recognize the incident of Sze Ma Kwang and his boy companions around the large garden jar of gold fish, when one of the eager youngsters fell into the jar and failed to come to the surface. One boy, looking in after him, is in despair, and two of the others, fearful for him and to get aid for the immersed one are running away. Sze Ma Kwang alone relied upon himself, and hurled a stone at the jar to break it near the bottom and let the water out, thus saving his comrade, who emerged with the outrush of the flood. Sze Ma Kwang is the figure forward on the right. The five dolls are carved of kiri wood and delicately coated with gofun, a composition made from burnt and powdered oyster shells, the application of which was a laborious process. The method at the time called for a so-called "first coating" ten times repeated, this treatment being followed by some seventeen or eighteen more coats, to get the desired surface. Judges in Japan have expressed the opinion that these five dolls were unquestionably made by a famous artist of the period, basing their judgment on modeling, attitude and expression. The boys all wear silk mwnekake elaborately ornamented in silk and gold embroidery, and wear as well yodarekake, the Chinese and Japanese bib - which has the form of a broad collar.  Height of standing dolls, from. 10 1/2 inches to 11 3/4 inches. 

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

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