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Posted 2 years ago
kcpotts
(1 item)
When my Father served in Korea he was stationed in Japan in 1953-54. He had a houseboy and when he found out that my father had just recieved word of a son(me) gave him an assortment of wooden dolls that his family had before WWII. I have many more images of all of these dolls and to be fair they have some wear. The angry red cloaked man stands about 8" tall with a head that swivels. The woman stands about 6" and also has a head that swivels. The Doll within a Doll is missing the small baby and only has the first two sets. She stands about 5" tall.
I also recieved 7 wooden Japanese dolls that had swivel heads but were only about 2" high. They had an assortment of accessories, like fishing pole, bucket, small string instrument, umbrella and a book. Alas these were my favorites and I played with them all the time. As a toddler I tried to swallow one but I can't remeber who it was at the times. As a result of all this playtime activity is that only the string instrment is left still attached. The rest of the accessories are gone and I can"t find them anywhere.
Kokeshi DollsSince World War II, Japanese kokeshi dolls have become tremendously popular…
The seven were almost certainly representing the seven lucky gods. See this website for full details, names & which implements they should have...
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/seven.shtml
Kokeshi dolls
I've now put my collection of 1950s nodder kokeshi on this site - you will see that I also have a collection of 7 lucky gods - mine are actually fixed to a stand and I think all still have their original implements (they came in their original box). I think your first picture is a daruma kokeshi (not the traditional round daruma doll, but a more lifelike version). The second picture is a more standard girl kokeshi (she looks a lot like my small babysitter). I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed your collection even as a small boy!