Japanese dolls

Japanese dolls (人形, ningyō, lit. 'human form') are one of the traditional Japanese crafts.
There are various types of traditional dolls, some representing children and babies, some the imperial court, warriors and heroes, fairy-tale characters, gods and (rarely) demons, and also people of the daily life of Japanese cities. Many have a long tradition and are still made today for household shrines, formal gift-giving, or for festival celebrations such as Hinamatsuri, the doll festival, or Kodomo no Hi, Children's Day. Some are manufactured as a local craft, to be purchased by pilgrims as a souvenir of a temple visit or some other trip.
There may be a continuity in the making of the dogū (土偶), humanoid figures, by the ancient Jōmon culture in Japan (8000–200 BC), which were associated with fertility or shamanistic rites, at a time when dolls were thought to have souls. Dolls also have continuity from the Haniwa funerary figures of the subsequent Kofun culture (around 300–600 AD). Expert Alan Pate notes that temple records refer to the making of a grass doll to be blessed and thrown into the river at Ise Shrine in 3 BC; the custom was probably even more ancient, but it is at the root of the modern doll festival, or Hinamatsuri.
In the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period, several types of dolls had already been defined, as known from Lady Murasaki's novel The Tale of Genji. Girls played with dolls and doll houses; women made protective dolls for their children or grandchildren; dolls were used in religious ceremonies, taking on the sins of a person whom they had touched. At that time, it was thought that evil could be ritualistically transferred to a paper image called a katashiro (形代), which were then cast to the river or sea; Japanese dolls today may be the result of the combination of katashiro and paper dolls children once played with. Hōko, though not explicitly mentioned in The Tale of Genji, were soft-bodied dolls given to young women of age and especially to pregnant women to protect both mother and unborn child. Sources mentioning them by name start appearing in the Heian period, but are more apparent in the Muromachi period.
Okiagari-koboshi are roly-poly toys made from papier-mâché, dating back to at least the 14th century. They are good-luck charms and symbols of perseverance and resilience.
Probably the first professional dollmakers were temple sculptors, who used their skill to make painted wooden images of children (Saga dolls). The possibilities of this art form, using carved wood or wood composition, a shining white "skin" lacquer called gofun made from ground oystershell and glue, and textiles, were vast.
During the Edo period (1603–1867), when Japan was closed to most trade, there developed both fine dollmakers and a market of wealthy individuals who would pay for the most beautiful doll sets for display in their homes or as valuable gifts. Sets of dolls came to include larger and more elaborate figures, and more of them. The competitive trade was eventually regulated by government, meaning that doll makers could be arrested or banished for breaking laws on materials and height.
Homes and shops put up traditionally-clothed dolls of various sizes, set on a red dais, around 3rd March for the festival of Hinamatsuri. These feature the emperor and empress, attended by a court retinue: warriors, ministers and so on. Full versions include 15 dolls and apparatus such as utensils for Japanese tea ceremony (茶の湯, cha no yu). The most elaborate sets can fetch many millions of yen (tens of thousands of US$). The Doll Festival is celebrated to ensure girls' future happiness, and this link to daughters is rooted in the use of dolls in children's play. However, the Doll Festival itself has been part of Japanese culture only since the Edo period.
It was during the Edo period that most of the traditional doll types known today developed.
With the end of the Edo period and the advent of the modern Meiji era in the late 1800s, the art of doll-making changed as well:
Japanese dolls are broken down into several subcategories. Two of the most prominent are Girl's Day, hina-ningyō, and the Boy's Day musha-ningyō, or display dolls, sagu-ningyō, gosho-ningyō, and isho-ningyō. Collections can be categorized by the material they are made of such as wood dolls (kamo-ningyō and nara-ningyō) and clay forms such as fushimi ningyō, koga ningyō, and hakata ningyō.
In the 19th century, ningyō were introduced to the West. Doll collecting has since become a popular pastime in the West. Famous well known collectors from the West include individuals such as James Tissot (1836–1902), Jules Adeline (1845–1909), Eloise Thomas (1907–1982), and Samuel Pryor (1898–1985). James Tissot was known to be a religious history painter. In 1862, after attending a London Exhibition, he was drawn to Japanese art. During the 1860s, Tissot was known as one of the most important collectors of Japanese art in Paris. His collections included kosode-style kimono, paintings, bronze, ceramics, screens and a number of bijin-ningyō (dolls from the late Edo period). Adeline was known as a working artist and he is also known as "Mikika". Adeline produced many works throughout his career as a working artist. He is best known for his etchings and received the Cross of the Legion of Honor for his Vieux-Roven "Le Parvis Notre-Dame". Unlike Tissot, Adeline is recognized as a true collector. A majority of Adeline's collection consisted of ningyō, and only a few prints.
During the Meiji period, three men became pioneers in collecting ningyō: Shimizu Seifū (1851–1913), Nishizawa Senko (1864–1914), and Tsuboi Shōgorō (1863–1913). The three men are referred to as Gangu San Ketsu ("the three great toy collectors"). They introduced a systematic approach to collecting ningyō in an effort to preserve and document the various forms of ningyō. Shimizu, an artist and calligrapher, put his artistic ability to use by creating an illustrated catalog of his own collection of 440 ningyō dolls. The catalog was published in 1891, under the title Unai no Tomo. Nishizawa, a banker, gathered a significant collection on hina-ningyō. He was an active researcher, collector of stories, documents, and information relating to the development of hina-ningyō during the Edo period. Nishizawa's son Tekiho (1889–1965) inherited his collection, but a great portion of the collection was lost in the Kanto earthquake of 1923. Tsuboi, founder of the Tokyo Anthropological Society, was the most trained of the three, and he brought a scientific element to the collecting of ningyō.
Dolls have been a part of Japanese Culture for many years, and the phenomenon of collecting them is still practiced. Many collections are preserved in museums, including the Peabody Essex Museum, Kyoto National Museum, and the Yodoko Guest House.
Media related to Dolls from Japan at Wikimedia Commons