Japanese Lesson of the Week: Week #10.

Today's Japanese Lesson of the week will not revolve around vocabulary but instead we'll learn about a craft that originated approximately 150 years ago in Northern Japan.

This piece of woodwork was once made for the children of farmer's but now is considered a piece of traditional Japanese folk art. I decided to look into the background of the wood toys because today while shopping for souvenirs with Dan's Dad and step-mom I bought Evelyn her first Japanese trinket.

These toys are known as kokeshi or kokeshi dolls. They are crafted from wood and then painted by hand. You can see kokeshi dolls of all sizes at vendors in the Exchanges. Evelyn's kokeshi is a small wood ball that has a panda face painted on it; I would not consider it a "doll". They are often gifted as a sign of love and friendship.

They sold traditional looking kokeshi dolls and others that had zodiac symbols painted on. They also had little round kokeshi too that had animal faces on them: the panda I bought for Ev, dogs, and the ever-famous "happy cat".

Evelyn's kokeshi panda came with two little pieces of paper regarding the history of the dolls. It said how the dolls were once made for farmer's children as I stated above but some believe kokeshis may have been a type of substitute after an unwanted baby was killed. After I read that I felt pretty creeped out since I bought it for my child but the little excerpt made it clear that there is no solid evidence that they were used in that manner.

If you'd like to learn more about kokeshi you can look at the handy dandy Wiki page, an article courtesy of Collector's Weekly, or this website. All are very informative and go into detail about the difference between traditional kokeshi and creative kokeshi.

I'd say Ev's little panda would be considered creative kokeshi. If the vendor is still there next time I go back I'll have to take a picture of one that has a striking resemblance to an animal featured in a cell phone / iPad game that is currently very popular.

Suspenseful, right? If I do manage to get a picture of it I won't put it in next week's JLOTW; it will get its own entry and you'll get to see the panda, too.

Be sure to check out the various designs here. If you feel so inclined you could leave a comment with which one(s) are your favorite.

Until next week, sayonara!