Posted 13 years ago
kcpotts
(1 item)
When my Father served in Korea he was stationed in Japan in 1953-54. He had a houseboy and when he found out that my father had just recieved word of a son(me) gave him an assortment of wooden dolls that his family had before WWII. I have many more images of all of these dolls and to be fair they have some wear. The angry red cloaked man stands about 8" tall with a head that swivels. The woman stands about 6" and also has a head that swivels. The Doll within a Doll is missing the small baby and only has the first two sets. She stands about 5" tall.
I also recieved 7 wooden Japanese dolls that had swivel heads but were only about 2" high. They had an assortment of accessories, like fishing pole, bucket, small string instrument, umbrella and a book. Alas these were my favorites and I played with them all the time. As a toddler I tried to swallow one but I can't remeber who it was at the times. As a result of all this playtime activity is that only the string instrment is left still attached. The rest of the accessories are gone and I can"t find them anywhere.
The seven were almost certainly representing the seven lucky gods. See this website for full details, names & which implements they should have...
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/seven.shtml
Kokeshi dolls
I've now put my collection of 1950s nodder kokeshi on this site - you will see that I also have a collection of 7 lucky gods - mine are actually fixed to a stand and I think all still have their original implements (they came in their original box). I think your first picture is a daruma kokeshi (not the traditional round daruma doll, but a more lifelike version). The second picture is a more standard girl kokeshi (she looks a lot like my small babysitter). I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed your collection even as a small boy!