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      Mitate gosho-ningyō: Sankin-kotai

       Edo period, 19th century

       Height of figures 4 inches

       Overall length 12 ft

       Ayervais Collection

      Similar processions occurred periodically with the arrival of envoys from Korea and the Ryukyu Islands, who came to pay respects to the shōgun in Edo. Western officials stationed on the trade island of Deshima also participated in this tradition. In 1818, Jan Cock Blomhoff, chief of the Dutch trading post on Deshima from 1817 to 1823, made the journey to Edo as part of the official embassy presenting gifts to the shōgun, an event which occurred every four years. The round trip took about three months to complete, and even though at times only four Dutchmen were part of the retinue, the trip required on the whole fifty horses, an escort of over a hundred men, plus additional security, interpreters, porters, and bearers. Blomhoff was an avid documenter of many of the day-to-day aspects of his life while in Japan and he purchased in Nagasaki a set of ningyō depicting a procession to Edo.

      The sankin-kōtai processions were a symbol of the age, and as such were depicted in painting and woodblock print, described in popular fiction, and executed in ningyō form. The gyōretsu-ningyō set purchased by Blomhoff in 1822 and now in the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, consists of forty-two male figures each with two swords tucked at their waists, and a palanquin carried by two porters. Each figure is mounted on an individual base and is shown with the shaved pate and topknot of the samurai and wearing clothing much as that illustrated in the Owari Tokugawa painting, which would have been executed about the same time. The popularity of this subject matter for ningyō artists is evident in the number of extent examples executed in a wide variety of styles.

      The gosho gyōretsu-ningyō set featured here consists of fifty-two individual gosho-ningyō serving as retainers, carrying their lord's possessions, holding aloft banners and arms heralding his passage. The mounted retainers are shown riding harukoma hobbyhorses. Each is costumed in an embroidered silk crepe bib and short outer jacket. Their hairstyles vary from the short side pompoms of the karako (Chinese child) style, to full side and forelocks with the top-knot done in a chasen-mage (tea whisk) style. The tall spear carriers hold their shafts vertically, with the blades covered in a variety of felt, lacquer, and silk fiber covers known as yari-zaya. Other interesting elements not necessarily a traditional part of the gyōretsu procession include Shintō paper streamers called nusa and a New Year's-style decoration with a miniature mask of Okame (the Goddess of Mirth) attached on center.

      The nature of these gyōretsu-ningyō sets varied dramatically, ranging from large-scale renditions complete with accurately detailed palanquins, banners, and heraldry to mitate forms showing women emulating the daimyō processions, the various porters, attendants, and powerful samurai replaced with ladies in elegant kimono, elaborate coiffures, and delicate features (see page 182). Full sets done in the kesi-bina (seed hina) style, each figure measuring less than one inch, with painted details and practically microscopic accessories, were also popular. Or in even more whimsical examples, the entire procession was replaced by an entourage of insects, praying mantises, and bugs of varying descriptions, creating an entomological version of the proud daimyō gyorestu.

      Mitate Gosho-ningyō: Chōsenjin

      Ningyō forms, particularly those of the ishō or "fashion" type, were very much pieces of the moment. They reflected current trends in clothing, the popularity of a hit play on the Kabuki stage, and fads brought on by a novel or biography published by one of the active printing houses. Jokes and rumors, love stories and scandals, and even politics all worked their way into this popular medium.

      For much of the Edo period, Japan practiced a policy of self-seclusion termed sakoku (closed country). As part of a concerted strategy of tight social and political control over all aspects of society, active interchange between the continent and Japan came to a near standstill following the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate in the early 1600s. With foreign contacts limited almost entirely to Dutch and Chinese traders at the port of Nagasaki, the outside world became largely an imaginary space within the public consciousness. Authors and artists of the period, drawing with only limited knowledge upon the foreign, created narrative and visual works catering to the public's thirst for this larger world, filling the public imagination with exotic people and places which frequently bore little resemblance to reality.

      One notable exception to this hermetic policy was the Korean mission to Edo. This diplomatic embassy was effectuated, as a rule, in conjunction with the accession of a new shōgun. A total of fourteen embassies were sent between the years 1604 and 1811. Though further embassies were proposed, none actually came to Edo. For the Japanese shōgunal government in Edo, it was an opportunity to display its opulence and munificent rule to its Asian neighbor and, in return, the new government was given an added gloss of strength and authority through the visits of representatives from foreign governments. For the Japanese people, it was an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the world beyond, with all its wonder and strangeness. In addition to the sheer marvel of watching a parade of up to 400 foreigners plus escorts pass through their towns, replete with standard bearers, exotic costumes, and novel habits, the Koreans also provided unusual entertainment. Prints from the seventeenth century depict exhibitions of Korean mounted trick riders engaging in acrobatic feats and equestrian displays— unheard of in Edo society—and indicate that such displays were a part of the 1655 mission.