A separation of Assignment #2 for easy grading.

As many of you may have guess, but none mentioned, this is a personal photo. For the full story, CLICK HERE. It was taken by me at the start of my journey/vacation during Golden Week while I was studying abroad in Japan. The collection was being displayed in the waiting room of the Wada train station in Akita. I believe the collection was the personal property of one of the station attendants, that I got to speaking with on a somewhat regular basis. At least I hope it belonged to her, because she gave me a few of the dolls that you see. O.o

Kokeshi in form and creation are very simple. A wooden doll that is shaped from a shaft, with some shaping done to form the head. Humanity does love making things into human-esque shapes and representations. The painting of the doll, of course, helps complete the representation.

As an object, originally, it was a wonderful and cheap toy. The dolls were only limited by the imagination of the painter and the children who played with them.

However, as soon as the West began to interact regularly with Japan, the dolls became important as being culturally unique to Japan, and not just as toys. Many of the kokeshi you see here are stamped on the bottoms with the area in Japan they were made, the dates they were made, and the artist who carved and painted them. Kokeshi were no longer toys to be made and given to children, they were art to be sold to foreigners.

I have a particular love for this collection because of its variety and purpose as art not for foreigners, but for the Japanese who came and went in that waiting room. Also, many of these pieces are unique, and I never saw another set in Japan like them. In touristy-stores in Kyoto, Tokyo, and Akita, I found the same exact mass produced kokeshi waiting to be purchased. Each had varying prices depending on the locale, and each had the same exact signature stamped on the bottom.

The simple form of the kokeshi has evolved. If you go to the blog linked, or simply use your Google-fu, you'll find pictures of girls with wooden wedges attached as arms,and a flattened wooden cone attached as an umbrella, mimicking the pose of the "Kyoto-dolls" that all the tourists know and love.

I loved shopping at the flea markets for the kokeshi. Once again, I got to see the ones that were not at sale at every tourist shop. And there was just bins and bins of them. I wanted to buy the whole thing and ship it home. From toy, to tourist goods, to art, to unwanted wood in a bin at a flea market. The evolution of a wooden painted cylinder.