Whether call it kokeshi or not?

[kokeshi description]

• artisan : Jitsutaro Susumago
• type : Traditional Hanamai
• tall : 18cm(7inch)

"Faceless" Kokeshi

Look at this odd object in the picture.It is literally "faceless".This is called "Kinakina",a local craft in Tohoku.If I wake at midnight and look at it,I may scream from fear as if I met across "Noppera-bo", a faceless ghost in Japanese. It looks like kokeshi.Kokeshi authorities say that this was originally a baby's pacifier(dummy),already in being in early 19th.Indeed,the reason why this craft is colourless is its craftworkers might think dye could be toxic to sucking babies.

I said above, "it looks LIKE KOKESHI".It is also "faceless" in another way. There used to be a little argument among kokeshi manias about it -"kinakina is included in kokeshi or not?".Most authorities voted "No" -for the main reason of "just a pacifier".Some of them even say that kinakina shouldn't be appreciated as much as kokeshi.But at the same time,they almost always introduced it in their own authors,and even says in them that kinakina was the basis of Hanamaki kokeshi,a type of traditional kokeshi.I hear early kokeshi in Hanamaki was "painted kinakina".Is this treatment unfair - of a contributors to kokeshi?

Features of Kinakina

• Faceless and colourless
• Bobbing head -head inserted into body part somewhat loosely(but the extent that it is not easily pulled off)
• Slim body -for baby's easy grasping

Just What's Kokeshi?

"Kinakina shouldn't be appreciated as much as kokeshi" -the aforementioned statement really reflects the essence of the matter. Actually,the word "kokeshi" was formed as a unified term in 1939 -"unified" means the words for wooden dolls had varied regionally before(I'll discuss about this further more some time soon).And the more important is "why was it formed?"

At that time,there was a movement of revaluation of kokeshi.It was originally just a toy,furthermore,in the stage of old-fashioned "dog" from the market analysis,being ousted by tin toys.Then,kokeshi was miraculously "promoted to the higher position" of craft art by voluntary kokeshi devotees.

I really respect them because kokeshi would not have been what it is without them.But as for this too simple faceless doll,kinakina,"it wasn't their taste".Maybe they thought as following:"Kokeshi should be one of craft ARTS.And ART should be an activity which express some beauty or serious message or some such.But kinakina is just an infant toy,and moreover non-expressive! So,it shouldn't be included in kokeshi." I can partly take their points.But someone might say "this is a kind of abstract ARTS!" -unfortunately,I have little appreciation for abstract arts,but if Tarou Okamoto were alive,he might take a case for it.

Anyway,apart from its artistic quality,it is a little pity that kinakina is excluded from the category of kokeshi in spite of its primitive ancestor.So,at least I will regard it with reverence based on our traditional moral -"filial piety". Although,I really want to be exempt from being possessed by ghost.