Togatta kokeshi

Background of Togatta

Togatta is located in the foot of "Mt.Zao",a onsen town and the base of ski areas in this mountains.

The main settlement of kokeshi artisans is outer small village of the town centre,quiet and rustic amid deep woods -just "The village of Kijishi" - but lately,rather deserted because of downturn in kokeshi.

The production of kokeshi started from the mid 19th,and the more thriving its onsen,the more thriving its kokeshi.

Now,although kokeshi artisans are decreasing,it has about thirty artisans or so,relatively more than other kokeshi production areas.

Large-Headed Kokeshi

Japan has been a quake-prone country and it often has annoyed the people - including manias for kokeshi.The other day,an earthquake occured in Tohoku which had a magnitude of 6.6.Fortunately,there was little damage to the people -excluding one of my friends.He phoned me and said,"What a disaster! all my kokeshi have fallen down! " I worried about him and his kokeshi,especially about his Togatta-kokeshi.Because ...

• artisan : Masato Midorikawa
• type : Togatta
• tall : 31cm(12inch)
• max width : 8cm(3inch)
• max circumferences : 28cm(11inch)

They are large-headed as you can see.This is the most characteristic and so unique of all type of kokeshi.But at the same time this is the weakness - to earthquake.I said before,"she might have been concerned about her own head"("type of traditional kokeshi") -this concern is about her lack of stability rather than about her own looks.

Other features are:

• red patterns radiating from the top of head
• red patterns from forehead down the side of both cheeck
• eye with pupil,with lower eyelid
• inverted-v nose
• with lip rouge

Flowery Kokeshi

In addition,their body are very often painted with floral pattern - such as cherry,Japanese plum,chrysanthemum.These are main characteristics of Togatta-kokeshi.You can refer to an another Togatta kokeshi(LS) as another sample of them.And if you have time,I'd like you to compare these with other type of kokeshi such as Tsuchiyu kokeshi.

When I saw Togatta-kokeshi at first,I didn't like very much them because of their unique shape.But as I see and study more kinds of kokeshi,I feel they are more and more pleasant.Sure,they are large-headed,but they are never "big headed" -they know very well that they are vulnerable.Rather,the problem is I can't find good solution for them -as a last resort,I lay them on the floor.But it's also quite a strange spectacle!

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Tsuchiyu kokeshi (1)

Ten Major Areas of Traditional Kokeshi

There are 10 types in traditional kokeshi(cf."Type of traditional-kokeshi.Each type has been generally developed on each production area.So,each type is named after the name of its production area.Below is the list of them.

1. Tsuchiyu (土湯)
2. Yajiro (弥次郎)
3. Togatta (遠刈田)
4. Naruko (鳴子)
5. Yamagata (山形)
6. Zao (蔵王)
7. Hiziori (肘折)
8. Kijiyama (木地山)
9. Hanamaki (花巻)
10. Nuruyu (温湯)

This is the map showing all production areas.

Large traditional-kokeshi mapDisplay

The above map indicates almost all Tohoku region-Fukushima (福島),Miyagi (宮城)(above is marked Sendai(仙台)),Yamagata (山形),Iwate (岩手),Akita (秋田),and Aomori (青森).All are onsen spots as well.

(Niigata (新潟) is not included in Tohoku.)

Background of Tsuchiyu

First of all,I will talk about "Tsuchiyu kokeshi".You can know the overview of Tsuchiyu from the site "the Tsuchiyu".Might I add,it had some historical background below.

• a major base of transportation which led to big cities of the day in Tohoku
• a vibrant town with many amusements including nightlife
• a town with attractive culture brought from Edo and Kyoto

These factors enabled Tsuchiyu to product kokeshi early in Japan.

Later on,it was replaced as a major town along with other areas development in Tohoku.And worse,some terrible disasters caused its decline.But now it still remains as one of popular spa spots in Tohoku.

Next Time I will talk about the characteristics of Tsuchiyu kokeshi.

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Relax in onsen!

[kokeshi description]

• artisan : Tomio Takahashi
• type : Togatta
• tall : 47cm(18.5inch)
• max width : 13cm(5inch)
• max circumference : 41cm(16inch)

"Touji" a Kind of Balneotherapy

Kokeshi was born in onsen, hot spa area of Tohoku where craft workers had settled in.


Modern Japanese go to onsen for their leisure usually in a couple of days. It is so good, but this is somewhat different from the way of our ancestors.



They rather would use onsen as balneotherapy. This is called "touji(or "toji") in Japanese. So,some people still now go onsen for their cures -if you google such words as "onsen + cancer"etc, you can find some interesting articles. But I am not in position to say yes or no to them.



Touji had and still has the following.

• long stay -usually almost for a month
• self-catering in simple cabin near spa spot
• many kinds of bathing based on their conditions

You may remember some kind of people if you have been to onsen. Some of them take short-time bath(usually for 5-10minutes) over again and again- as if they are doing hard interval training like long-distance athletes towards the Olympic games. Some of them just lie on the floor like tuna -you can see them which are lined up in Tsukiji fish market. Actually they take shower of hot spa steam. And others take "nonstop-onsen", without a rest as if they seems to be boiled octopus.

(and for some reason, they are also often "bald")

Kokeshi in Onsen

All these are just rough sketch of touji treatment.


(I think the third nonstop-onsen treatment is not good for health. And if you try to come to onsen for your care, you had better consult with doctors or some kind of onsen therapists beforehands.)


And the point is, kokeshi has been popular as this custom of touji has been popular. Originally the custom of touji had been only among privileges such as Mikado, Shogun and so such. And most onsen spots are located too far and deep in the mountain to go. To become common needs improvement of the basis. I think that the background of its popularity was due to the significant development of the society at that time.


By the way, Japanese has the custom that they give their new born babies first bath -this is called "ubuyu" in Japanese. So,kokeshi might take an onsen-ubuyu when they was born. Moreover, it is said that some onsen make your skin more beautiful. I get there, this is the just secret that kokeshi keep their looks!!(*) -Anyway, now I will admire Mao Asada for her challenge although she didn't win the gold medal. I think what she need is to take some time off -to relax in peaceful and comfortable place and...to take an onsen!



(*)No water with kokeshi! We have to keep wood works away from water.

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