Valley of the dolls

Hand-made from wood, they have simple bodies and enlarged heads with a few painted lines to depict faces. Kokeshi dolls painted in red, blue and white and made by Takatoshi Hayashi in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, smile gently at visitors. When the third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction was held in Sendai in March, kokeshi dolls served to welcome representatives of the participating countries.

About 200 dolls with the faces of world leaders, such as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Barack Obama, were on display at a commercial facility in the city.

Four illustrators who come from or live in the city made them to entertain the conference participants with the traditional craftwork of the region.

A newcomer in crafting kokeshi dolls, Hayashi, 41, opened Tree Tree Ishinomaki, an atelier for manufacturing and selling kokeshi, last month in front of JR Ishinomaki Station. One of his works won an award at the national kokeshi competition earlier this month, thefirst time he had entered the contest.

Hayashi is a third-generation operator of a kimono store. In spring of 2012, when he was considering starting a new business, he happened to see a kokeshi with a mushroom-like head at a craft exhibition. He was impressed by its striking shape and decided to make interesting kokeshi of his own.

He visited several ateliers in the prefecture, each manufacturing a different type of kokeshi, to learn how to make them and last summer, he started manufacturing kokeshi as a profession.

The refreshing three colours used for his kokeshi are meant to represent the port city. Their heads bear fish motifs. They are about six to 15 centimetres tall, and sell for 1,080 yen (Bt300) to 1,680 yen. As he receives many orders, it takes three weeks |from receiving an order until delivering a finished doll.

The city was severely hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. Hayashi dreams of having his Ishinomaki kokeshi included in the list of traditional types of kokeshi, each of which has a long history. 

“I'll put my heart and soul |into the work. I also want to let people in other places know Ishinomaki is regaining its vitality,” Hayashi says.