LITMIR.BIZ

      Seated gosho-ningyō with box

       Edo period, late 18th to early 19th century

       Height 9 1/2 inches

       Rosen Collection

      Seated Gosho-ningyō with Box

      Ningyō in all of their forms were intensely personal objects. Fashioned as gifts and kept as talismans, they were intimately connected to those who owned them. How individuals actually felt about these figures can only be surmised through their enduring popularity and the fact that these fragile remnants of a bygone day are still available for us to admire today, a strong testament to their cultural and personal importance. The aesthetics they embody and the emotions they were intended to invoke can be gleaned from diaries and commentaries that date back to the tenth century which show that ningyō, even from this early date, were an important part of the personal culture of the Japanese.

      Sei Shōnagon, in one of her many diary entries commenting on her daily life, lists in a section entitled "Things That Arouse Fond Memories of the Past" the "objects used during the Display of Dolls (hina asobi)" Hina asobi, which can be literally translated as "playing with dolls," is used here to evoke memories of a happy and carefree youth when time was spent playing house and children arranged dolls based on the life viewed around them. Later, in a particularly long and sensitive list entitled "Adorable Things," she again mentions objects used during hina asobi. Here, she also includes the wonderful visual of a baby, fat and healthy, "crawling rapidly along the ground. With his sharp eyes he catches sight of a tiny object, and picking it up with his pretty little fingers, takes it to show a grown up person."

      The essence of gosho-ningyō is their ability to delight the viewer, to capture that aspect of youth, its innocence and wonderment, which we look back upon with such nostalgia. In the image of the gosho-ningyō shown here, we see a young boy holding up with obvious joy a box that he has found. Seated squarely on the floor with both legs extended in front, he looks not at the box in his hand but at the viewer, seeking approval. The gofun has been worn from the big toe on his right foot, and the kiri (paulownia) wood beneath is visible, darkened with a rich patina from being handled over the years. He is clothed in a simple red silk open-sleeved kimono with a white silk layer beneath. His silk fiber hair is divided into five sections: two side locks, a forelock tied up high, a simple knot on top of his head, and a very small lock at the nape of his neck.

      Woodblock print imagery from the Edo period depicting children reveals an almost bewildering array of hairstyles. They range from completely shaved heads to small round patches of closely cropped hair, to shoulder length hair tied in a variety of fashions. The Japanese have traditionally held many beliefs surrounding hair in general, and children's hair in particular, with numerous customs and rituals associated with its growth, cutting, and styling. The hair itself was seen in many respects as a nexus of one's life force, and many of a child's steps towards adulthood were marked by haircutting rituals of various descriptions. During the Heian period, a hair-cutting ritual called the ubuzori was held generally a week after a child's birth. Garlanded with auspicious objects, the child's head was turned towards the east and three locks were cut by an officiant before the nurse finished off the job, thus completing the child's first haircut. The most common rite was the kamioki held at the age of three for both boys and girls. This rite marked the end of a probationary period of sorts. Before this time, a child's grip on this world was considered weak and tentative, and because of this children could be easily transported back to the other world to which they remained partially connected. By age three, the life expectancy of children greatly improved, and the kamioki ritual marked a point in which a child's hair would be allowed to grow long for the first time, rather than extensive head-shaving which marked a child's early years. Up to the age of seven or eight, male and female children sported much the same kinds of hairstyles.