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Japanese imperial doll set

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Japanese Pottery104 of 1450Japanese Kiyomizu Soraku gama  porcelain sake cupJapanese plate and yunomi
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    Posted 2 years ago

    kwqd
    (1184 items)

    These figurines are, male 3" x 3", female 2.5" x 2.5". They are not marked but came in a wooden box with a pretty extensive amount of text on the lid, which it turns out, is a box for holding tea and not related to these dolls. They appear to be chalk ware, or something similar, and are quite heavy, so may have something inside them. The male figurine has some sort of lance or pole extending from his middle.

    Explanation from rhineisfine about these dolls:

    "It's an "emperor and empress" doll set for Hinamatsuri in Japanese. Hinamatsuri (variously called Girls' Day or Dolls Day in English) falls on March 3rd:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinamatsuri

    The elaborate tradition is to have a full large set of gofun dolls that are arrayed on a stepped display, but many people simply have an emperor/empress set to display. (They're actually the "imperial couple", not the emperor and empress exactly, but close enough in English.)

    Sorry, meant to say it's a festival (matsuri) in Japan, featuring ornamental dolls (hina-ningyo), thus the name Hinamatsuri in Japanese.'"

    They are not extremely complex or sophisticated in execution. I was not really interested in these but they came in a two box lot with a very nice sake cup in a tomobako, both for only $9, the cup probably worth several times that amount. No idea who made these.-

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    Comments

    1. rhineisfine rhineisfine, 2 years ago
      It's an "emperor and empress" doll set for Hinamatsuri in Japanese. Hinamatsuri (variously called Girls' Day or Dolls Day in English) falls on March 3rd:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinamatsuri

      The elaborate tradition is to have a full large set of gofun dolls that are arrayed on a stepped display, but many people simply have an emperor/empress set to display. (They're actually the "imperial couple", not the emperor and empress exactly, but close enough in English.)
    2. rhineisfine rhineisfine, 2 years ago
      Sorry, meant to say it's a festival (matsuri) in Japan, featuring ornamental dolls (hina-ningyo), thus the name Hinamatsuri in Japanese.
    3. kwqd kwqd, 2 years ago
      Thanks for the information rhineisfine! I will be posting the sake cup that I got with this set later today.
    4. jscott0363 jscott0363, 2 years ago
      These are great and very unique!! The first of their kind I've seen.
    5. kwqd kwqd, 2 years ago
      Thanks for your comments, jscott0363! First time for me too!

      Thanks for loving my Japanese chalk ware dolls Kevin, PhilDMorris, jscott0363, Jenni, BHIFOS, vcal, fortapache, rhineisfine, Vynil33rpm, dav2no1 and yougottahavestuff!
    6. MMNJ MMNJ, 2 years ago
      The box says Meisho (“master craftsman”) sencha tea. The pole the male figure has is actually the hilt of a sword.
    7. kwqd kwqd, 2 years ago
      Thanks MMNJ! So the box does not go with the dolls, but is a perfect fit for them. Never would have guessed that was a sword hilt, but it seems obvious, now!

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