[ December Holiday Camp Day 1 - Kokeshi Dolls ]

More about Kokeshi Dolls

Kokeshi are Japanese dolls, originally from northern Japan. They are handmade from wood, have a simple trunk and an enlarged head with a few thin, painted lines to define the face. The body has a floral design painted in red, black, and sometimes yellow, and covered with a layer of wax. One characteristic of Kokeshi dolls is their lack of arms or legs. The bottom is marked with the signature of the artist.

Kokeshi was first produced by Kiji-shi in Shinchi, in Togatta/Miyagi Prefecture from where Kokeshi making techniques spread to other spa areas in the Tōhoku Region. It is said that these dolls were originally made from the middle of the Edo period to be sold to people who were visiting the hot springs in the north-east of the country.

Traditional Kokeshi dolls shapes and patterns became particular to a certain area and are classified under eleven types including: Tsuchiyu, Togatta, Yajiro, Naruko, Sakunami, Yamagata, Kijiyama, Nanbu, Tsugaru, Zao-takayu, and Hijioro. The most dominant type is the Naruko variety originally made in Miyagi Prefecture, which can also be found in Akita, Iwate, and Yamagata prefectures. The main street of the Naruko Hot Spring resort is known as Kokeshi Street and has shops which are operated directly by the Kokeshi carvers.

Creative Kokeshi allow the artist complete freedom in terms of shape, design and color and were developed after World War II. They are not particular to a specific region of Japan and generally creative Kokeshi artists are found in the cities.

The woods used for Kokeshi vary with cherry used for its darkness and dogwood which is softer. Itaya-kaede, a Japanese maple is also used. In the creation of both traditional and creative dolls the wood is left outdoors to season for one to five years before it can be used.

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Children at Work


Shu Yi

Miah

Julian

Elijah

Xin Hui

Charis

Allan

Wen Pei

Ashley

Dillon

Faithe

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For parents:

This camp has successfully transformed the traditional way of making Kokeshi dolls with the use of innovative materials. At the same time, it made this Japanese craft comes ALIVE for the children!

Using concrete materials, such as glass bottles, ping pong balls, felt, wiggly eyes, sequins, collage buttons and yarns, the children designed their own Kokeshi dolls creatively.

They used white glue to attach the ping pong balls to the opening of the glass bottles, thus creating the visual effect of a doll. Next, they cut clothes for their dolls using the felt. They also used collage buttons and sequins to decorate their masterpiece artistically. They could easily pass off as fashion designer for famous labels, such as Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. The next step was to add yarn to put in place the hair for their Kokeshi dolls. Last but not least, they sticked the wiggly eyes on their dolls to complete the craft. Horray!

Cheers,
Angeline