Kokeshi – a wooden toy for children. There are many kinds of kokeshi in the Tohoku region. Each face looks different, as they are carefully hand-painted by artisans.
昔ながらの子ども用のおもちゃ、「こけし」。東北地方には様々なこけしの種類がある。手作業のため、一つ一つの表情が違う。
You can also paint your own! 自分で塗ることもできます！
Kokeshis are now so popular that many women collect them from every region. There’s even a name for such people – kokeshi-jyoshi, or kokejyo (Kokeshi girl)!
今では「こけし女子（こけ女）」と呼ばれる人もいるほど大人気！
Kokeshi everywhere - maybe I'm a kokejyo too!?
The special part about the kokeshi in Naruko is that they make a squeaking sound when you turn its head. It’s said that the sound helped comfort crying babies, and thus was a perfect toy for them.
鳴子こけしの特徴は、頭を回すと「きゅきゅっ」と音が鳴ること。この音が、赤ちゃんをあやすのに良かったらしい。
The secret behind the squeaking noise lies in how the artisan fits the kokeshi head into the body.
その特徴的な音は、こけし頭を胴体にはめるときの、職人の技によって作り出されているのです！
The artisan here was so nice!
The most surprising part was that kokeshi wasn’t called kokeshi in the past – in fact, they had no particular name (each region had its own way of calling them) until the artisans got together and gave it a uniform name so that they can sell it in the market! Till then, these kokeshi were only made by the artisans for their children – it wasn’t for the market.
実は、「こけし」って昔から呼ばれていたわけじゃないそうです。そもそも昔は市場には売っていなく、木地師が子どもの為に余った木材で作っていただけ。各地の方言で呼び方が違っていたらしいです。市場に売り出すようになってから、ようやく各地の職人さんが集まり、「こけし」という名前に統一させたとか。
Thank you Naruko for such a wonderful trip! And for being my first entry here on this website 🙂
素敵な旅をありがとう、鳴子！足袋ろーぐ、第１弾でした＾＾
tabilogue | 足袋ろーぐ 