Dolls

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National-Louis University owns a variety of unidentified dolls. The dolls in this collection do not seem to be part of the other sets housed in the university archives.

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This set of dolls was made in Guatemala. National-Louis University Archives is not sure if the set is complete. They appear to be handmade and each doll stands approximately 6 inches in height.  More research is necessary.

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These three dolls are possibly from India.  They appear to be a set.  The bodies are made of cloth, stuffed with cotton.  More research is necessary to know how old they are and/or where they were made.

Scope and Contents The name, Anesama, literally means ‘honorable elder sister’ but it is also used to name the flat, folded paper dolls. These dolls do not have facial features, as casual images are not given identities in Japanese culture. As a result, the dolls are believed to have no life and no power to harm humans. Anesama, made out of plain, patterned, and crêpe papers are popular toys and decorative figures. Several different kinds of Japanese papers, such as washi, kōzo, mitsumata and ganpi, are...

Scope and Contents Hina-ningyō dolls are used in the Hina-matsuri or Girl’s Day Festival.  The term hina is a contraction of the word hiina, meaning ‘small and lovely’ and was applied to many different miniature forms, such as models of buildings, but is most generally associated with dolls.  Hina-ningyō can be literally translated as ‘miniature human figure’ or ‘doll’.  With the development of the Girl’s Day Festival in the early Edo period (17th through mid-19th centuries), the term hina-ningyō came to be...

Scope and Contents This collection includes:One Hagoita Paddle or Battledore, which are richly decorated game paddles, traditionally given as New Year’s gifts to play the New Year’s game of Hanetsuki (Battledore).  The paddle is usually decorated with elaborate faces of geishas or actors, using an art form called “oshie”.  The old year’s paddles are supposed to be burned at the end of the year.One female doll mounted on a wooden stand.One stuffed child doll.Three...

Scope and Contents The name, Mitsuore, means ‘three-fold’ and the doll was given this name because of the joints in the thighs, knees, and ankles, allowing the doll to be posed in various positions; the most notable being the typical Japanese way of kneeling on the floor and sitting on the heels. These dolls also facilitated the changing of clothes. Believed to be from just before 1800, mitsuore was one of the first steps leading to a shift in the way ningyō were viewed: away from felicitous objects of...

Scope and Contents The phrase tsuchi-ningyō simply points to the fact that the dolls are made of clay.  Japan has a long tradition of clay figurines starting with the archaic dogū and haniwa, to those made in Fushimi, Hanamaki, Inuyama, Koga, Sagara, Tsutsumi, and at present, the brightly colored Hakata figures.  National Louis University Archives has three different types of Japanese clay dolls.  All of these, except for one, have wire inserted into the doll to help it stand.  Of these wired dolls, several...

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Model tea house in the Japanese Style. The house has two stories and is complete with a porch and roof.  Provenance is unknown but might have been purchased by university faculty during trips to Japan in the 1930's to visit Japanese Kindergartens.