Artisan | Woodworker: Kanazawa, Tokushie

Origin: No Biography

Historically, the Japanese have been a very modest people. Japanese artists, in particular, felt their work spoke for them, and so for centuries, creative efforts by many artists, with the exception of woodblock prints, were unsigned, yet were easily recognized by the public through a specific style and the artists’ unique personalities. As collectors we felt it was most important to represent all Traditional and Sosaku Kokeshi, whether or not the artist has been identified, their seal, or artistic signature translated, or a written account of this artist’s life. Each show the diversity of this cultural specialization and the creative work produced by this artist.

Collector's note – Descriptive qualities/standard characteristics/ornamentation styles:

Kanazawa-san is renowned for his dolls featuring paintings of Black Peonys, (Botan Chou), which are a “rare” motif on Kokeshi dolls, and dolls, and are only made as a “one-off” creation for a specfic individual or occasion. It is said that Kanazawa was inspired by the famous, Peony Garden in Sukagawa, in the Fukushima Prefecture. His dolls are based on traditional facial and hairstyle types, and he incorporats a hand-painted striping technique called Rokuro Moyo. He only utilized black ink in sumi-e’ style graphic technique. The third delicate graphic  represents a peony petal and butterfly. The Kamon symbol was used only for top levels of citizens during the Samurai period in Japan. Kanazawa-san’s dolls are highly prized and seldom seen.

Artist's Signature: