The iconic wooden dolls with their gentle, demure expressions hail from Japan’s mountainous northern region of Tohoku, an area currently known as the site of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The woodcutters sell these dolls to tourists coming to the hot springs. Each locale’s traditional dolls are unique, reflecting the motifs and characteristics of the local people, history, plants and folklore. At first, the dolls were just sold as souvenirs for children, but after a while they started to have a certain cachet among adults, who began to seek them out as collectors’ items. A modern-style doll, called creative kokeshi appeared after the World War II, giving the artist the freedom of shape, design and colour. They are cute and loveable, used to decorate homes in Japan and overseas as well.
