Hobbies And Interests
Japanese Paper Dolls
Little girls make Japanese paper dolls out of poster board, tape, construction paper and colored pencils or markers. This process involves cutting, folding and gluing and they can do it in less than an hour.
Japanese Rain Dolls
Japanese children create rain dolls called "teru teru bozu" out of cloth or tissue paper and hang them in the window or under eaves to ward off bad weather for the coming day. These dolls are simply wadded paper for the head with an overlaying piece of paper or cloth placed over the doll’s “head” and fastened securely where the neck would be. One version at the Home and Garden Television website places rice pellets in a paper tube, with a wooden ball or egg for the head at one opening of the tube, and black crepe paper for the hair. Kids can make a paper doll kimono out of construction paper and wrap it around the tube.
Japanese Egg Doll
Another interesting Japanese doll craft is the egg doll, whose basic element is an egg. Japanese children prick the egg, blow out the yolk, paint a face and hair on it and then “dress” it by draping cloth around it and applying trinkets and ribbons. Vintage egg dolls take the form of famous sumo wrestlers, mothers with babies on their backs and other original figures. Many newer eggs for these Japanese dolls are ceramic.
Silk-skinned or “Mask Face”
Japanese craftsmen still create highly collectible silk-skinned or “mask face” Japanese fashion dolls. Japanese fashion dolls were very popular during the 1920s and 1930s and are still used for ceremonies, gift exchanges and home shrines. The early doll torsos and faces were made of painted silk to represent skin, and the dolls themselves were clothed in silk as well. Japanese children from all economic levels have these dolls, which vary in price and in materials used to make them. Some of these dolls are in the form of fairy tale characters, mythological creatures, warriors, heroes and samurais. Traditionally, these dolls were mostly made of clay, then rubber and over the last few years, plastic. Modern dolls sport clothing depicting everything from Gothic Victorian, colonial and punk to the latest Japanese clothing trends. Although still common in Japanese homes, many of these dolls today are souvenirs for tourists.
Kokeshi Dolls
Although manufactured and sold all over Japan to tourists, traditional Kokeshi dolls come only from the northeastern area of Japan called “Tohoku” where regions such as Tsuchiyu have highly skilled craftsmen who have been making these wooden dolls for many years. Because of the nature of the wood, the craftsmen use dogwood and pear tree woods to create the dolls so they will become more colorful and refined as they age.