Vintage Kokeshi Kanban
Antique Japanese Zao Kokeshi Kanban | Shokeu Type
Age:1841
Descriptive qualities& condition:
Dimensions: 28-0”h x 6-1/4”w
Particularly in resort areas, the kanban was used as traditional signs that merchants displayed on the street to advertise their presence, and products found inside their shops attract tourists and buyers. These were used mainly during the Edo and Meiji Periods and this type was referred to as a Shokei for it was highly decorated and hung under the eaves and is Polychromed wood with metal decorative hangers. Particularly women could not read at the time and these signs gave guidance to buying and were designed to make it easy for the illiterate to find the goods they needed. Signs of this type were also used to lend a sense of individuality to the shops themselves. We were shown in a book at purchase of the sign identified in a history of kanban, published forty years ago, with a doll shop in operation in the 1930s that inherited the piece and is famous for its representation of Traditional Family Kokeshi, (we have never identified or found the aforementioned book from this time period).
As with this Kanban most were made of wood, hand carved with only chisels, and hand-painted with a metal suspension hook for hanging to bring it in and out of the shop at the beginning and close of each business day. This image is of the Zao Kokeshi and specifically for this Kokeshi style. This image shows an oversized head, large, expressive eyes, and thick waists, banding at the neck and around the bottom of the figure, similar to the colored banding on the dolls themselves. This particular Atsumi version has a long nose, (naga-bana), and hairstyles with bangs and side fringes. The back of the sign is signed by an unidentifiable carver.
Shop sign carvers (Kijishi) and artists made and decorated kanban. The ‘Junkai ātisuto’ (itinerant artists), carved and painted kanban, could be hung on hooks at the shopfront, placed in a stand at ground level, or on a post. We were told that writing on the front of the piece typically translates as “good quality” and an abbreviated symbol for the owner of this particular shop. All styles of Kanji and the two kana syllabaries are used on Kanban, although the Soho style was more frequently chosen, because its rounded, running script enhanced the visual beauty of the sign and because it complemented the hiragana which was often incorporated in the writing. It wasn’t until the All-Japan Kokeshi Exhibition in 1940 that the name ‘Kokeshi’ (こけし) in hiragana (phonetic Japanese alphabet) was used to identify this form of a doll. The reason it is difficult to accurately translate.
Condition: Mint for its age, meaning the piece is perfect. No chips, cracks, breaks, missing pieces, or restoration, and retains its original details and finish. The only replacement part was the small eye hooks to hold the suspension hook after they rusted and made it unusable. The piece meets all the standards of collectible Japanese Folk Art.
Japanese Traditional Kokeshi | Zao-Kei (Family)
Prefecture: Miyagi-Yamagata border
Origin:
Zao was a prosperous resort at the end of the 19th century, with four souvenir shops. But no one was producing kokeshi for the shops so craftsmen were hired for the four shops who began competing with each other, and thus helped to develop a distinctive Zao strain developed by the Atsumi Onsen, at the foot of Mt. Zao, on the Miyagi-Yamagata border. This onsen became the home to this family of traditional Kokeshi.
Collector's note – characteristics/painting style:
These dolls, originating from, and having characteristics of, the Yamagata strain, is not always easy to identify. With oversized heads, large, expressive eyes, and thick-waists, they are brightly painted in a variety of colorful motifs. The range of floral designs on Zao bodies includes the more standard stacked, (or layered), chrysanthemum petals; bold, stylized cherry blossoms, peonies, and scattered sprays of small flowers. Most will also have colored banding at the neck and around the bases of the bodies. Zao Kokeshi have squeeze-in heads, which do not turn and show elements of the Tougatta dolls. Facial features vary also, with the Atsumi version having a long nose, (naga-bana), much like the Hijiori and Tsuchiyu dolls, and hairstyles similar to the Yamagata.
Notable artists:
Ishiyama Kazuo
Ishiyama Sanshiro, Master
Mito Hiroshi, b. 1933
Umeki Shuichi, b. 1929 — Umeki-san was awarded the highest honors in the 42nd National Japan Kokeshi Festival (Matsuri).
Kaneyama Buntaro, Grand Master
