Series - Dolls with Souls

Series - Dolls with Souls

In Part One, we noticed that, from their inception, Japanese dolls have been seen as spiritually powerful objects with a certain independent existence. The theme of dolls as magical continues in Part Two, where we look at early modern and modern dolls. We'll also watch Japanese doll-making become more sophisticated over time, producing better detail and articulation. And remember - in Part Three, we'll come full circle back to ABJDs, so stay tuned.

The early Edo Period saw the flourishing of bunraku, a form of stylized theater involving puppets: joruri ningyo. While not dolls in the traditional sense, bunraku puppets illustrated the Japanese cultural reverence for doll-like figures. Joruri ningyo ranged in size from half life-size to almost as tall as an adult. Each puppet was multi-jointed for realistic movement. Three puppeteers manipulated handles inside the puppet to move its limbs. The puppeteers dressed in black, with black hoods, so that they remained inconspicuous to the audience. With their hidden control mechanisms and naturalistic joints, joruri ningyo aimed to suspend the audience's disbelief. In the most successful bunraku, the audiences responded to the puppets as if they were real people.

As the Edo Period continued, Japanese doll-makers experimented with articulation to give dolls even more of a life-like air. Around 1750 C.E., "three-fold" dolls, known as mitsuore ningyo, became popular. They had floppy stuffed bodies above the waist and wooden body parts below. With jointed thighs, knees and ankles, these dolls could stand, sit or kneel. Approximately a century later, "three-fold" dolls developed into play dolls, ichimatsu ningyo, who had fully jointed bodies that were often the size of a human baby's (though the dolls themselves could represent any age). Ichimatsu ningyo had human hair and/or changeable wigs, as well as a wardrobe of several outfits. (Hmmm, this sounds familiar.) Because of their high level of craftsmanship, ichimatsu ningyo were reserved as playthings for wealthy women, including geisha, and children, who often cared for their dolls as if they were real children.

Dolls showed up as powerful talismans again in the modern era, as part of the Japanese war effort (1935-1944 C.E.). Women sewed small cloth dolls, mascot dolls, referred to as masukotto ningyo, for men in the Japanese army or navy. These dolls were usually labeled with the name of their maker so that they became an extension of her. The serviceman took the doll on his missions and talked to it as if it were the woman that he had left behind. Again, dolls were seen as surrogate people, treated with great love.