Tag: katsura

Katsura Ningyo – Japanese Doll with Six Wigs

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I’m still in California, which means still no access to my kimono, but I do have something utterly charming to share with you today! I have wanted one of these Japanese Dolls with Six Wigs for as long as I can remember, having stumbled across one on eBay years ago. Unfortunately, they’re slightly awkward to ship due to the wooden box and often in very bad shape due to years of play and/or neglect. They were created primarily for the post-occupation tourist market, as little souvenirs to bring home for your sweetheart or daughter. Most often the doll’s name was Hanako, but I have also seen Fukiyo. There was also a Noh-theatre style male doll who is much harder to find.

I recently found out that Goodwill auctions off items online and when I saw this one that would ship here to California. Her box was in rough shape, broken in places and missing a lid. I also suspect it’s been repaired at some point in the past, as I’ve never seen one in this arrangement of six wigs on one side and the doll on the other – the doll is almost always in the middle of the box with three wigs on either side. However, the box is really secondary here – the doll herself and most importantly the wigs looked to be in quite reasonable condition, especially for the under ten dollars the bidding was at. The wigs are the most frequently damaged pieces, as they’re so small and delicate. I threw out a bid and left it to chance, and somehow nobody else bid. I guess Goodwill isn’t quite as well-established for the Japanese art and history community as eBay is! They even included this lovely folded furoshiki gift box. I haven’t had the heart to unfold it yet, it’s just so cute as it is.

The first step was cleaning up the doll and creating some sort of a display base for her. Her face was very dirty and I’m not sure if she ever had a stand of any sort, but she definitely is not built to hold herself up. Her body is made of stiff paper that’s crumpled over the years, and her hands and feet are held on with very thin wire that won’t support her weight. Cleanup was thankfully very easy, I simply ran a moist cotton swab very gently over her face and it brought her from a dingy grey to a lovely bright white. Unfortunately the gofun over her face is cracked on one side, but I still find her adorable. The base was made out of a decorative wood plaque and a chopstick, of all things! I simply drilled through the plaque, glued the chopstick in at the correct height, and then cut the end off. It tucks up into her kimono and holds her quite solidly, but she’s very easy to remove. Repairing the box was easy – a bit of wood glue, some tape to hold things together as the glue set, and voila. The wigs themselves needed hardly any attention, I just smoothed out some errant hairs with my finger tips.

I will fully admit that katsura (traditional-type wigs) and traditional hairstyles in general are not something I’m particularly knowledgeable about. If anyone can tell me what wig or hairstyle these are meant to represent, I would be forever grateful. I’m fairly certain the one with the yellow front is meant to replicate a male chonmage style, like a performer would wear for playing a male role, and the one with the blue comb seems to be a sort of tsubushi shimada, but I may very well be wrong!  Here are some close-ups and detail photos of each of the wigs.

I am so happy I finally got my hands on this little darling and can’t wait to introduce her to my other rescued vintage dolls back home.

Katsura Rikyu: Imperial Villa of the Moon

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Katsura Today I was lucky enough to attend the Festival Internationale des Films sur l’Art (International Festival of Films on Art) showing of a lovely little documentary, Katsura Rikyu: Imperial Villa of the Moon.

I went with my mother and our friend Leslie. I’d sort of wanted to wear kimono, but my grandmother is currently in the hospital and we stopped by for a visit before the film, and it’s snowing and muddy out right now, so I settled on haori over western clothing. I paired my black haori with red urushi kiku with a red cowl-neck and some dressy jeans, and felt comfortable and not overdressed. It was nice.

The film itself was visually breathtaking, but sadly light on content. It was a short film about the Katsura Imperial Villa, focusing on the architecture and gardens.

From Wikipedia:

Its gardens are a masterpiece of Japanese gardening, and the buildings are even more important, one of the greatest achievements of Japanese architecture. The palace includes a shoin (“drawing room”), tea houses, and a strolling garden. It provides an invaluable window into the villas of princes of the Edo period.

As they are some of the most stunning and well-preserved examples of traditional Japanese imperial architecture, I was hoping for more substance. There were many lovely detail and overhead shots of the beautifully and accurately restored interior of the main building, outbuildings, and meticulously manicured and landscaped gardens. However, the narrator repeatedly left me hanging. Every time he’d get involved in a subject – be it the history of the Prince Toshihito, the type of rare cypress used as support beams, or the way the walls were painted in a manner to take advantage of shifting moonlight – every time, I’d get engaged and interested, and rather abruptly, the subject would change.

The whole documentary feels almost like a summary of a longer series. I enjoyed it immensely, it was a lovely little gem of Japanese aesthetic, and it was stunning to watch, I just wish it had gone into more depth. I would recommend it to anyone interested in traditional architecture and gardens, but not as a source of serious or academic information or resources, simply as a lovely and relaxing bit of eye and brain candy.

*image courtesy of Wikipedia