Ningyo - Alan Scott Pate

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children, carefree and innocent, acting out these mimicking roles. Instead of playthings intended for children, they are dolls traditionally designed for and admired by adults, creating an interesting circle of adults admiring dolls depicting children pretending to be adults. Such is the basic nature of the gosho-ningyō or "palace doll," a celebration of youth and innocence. Gosho-ningyō are at their core dolls depicting children. Whether elaborately costumed or nearly naked, they depict young, generally male, children doing what children do—playing, discovering the world around them. The particular love of the Japanese for the gosho-ningyō reflects an appreciation of the innocence of childhood and an attempt to continue to view the world through the child's eye long after the eye has matured into adulthood.

      Gosho-ningyō art perhaps the most lovable of all Japanese dolls, with their chubby bodies, childish expressions, and friendly faces staring candidly at the viewer. Gosho are distinctive in their depiction of young boys between the ages of three and five years old. Structurally, their bodies are generally carved in their entirety out of wood, frequently sexed, and covered overall in a brilliant white gofun (a lacquer-like substance made from a crushed oyster shell powder mixed with an animal-based glue termed nikowa). Their hairstyles are arranged in fashions appropriate to their age. Often they are depicted wearing nothing more than a simple bib known as a haragake. Their heads are exceptionally large and round, their facial features usually small and centered, and their bodies corpulent, signifying health.

      Popular in imperial court circles beginning in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, gosho-ningyō were frequently exchanged as gifts on a variety of occasions. As their popularity grew and expanded beyond the intimate court circles that birthed them, gosho-ningyō began to be depicted in a variety of ways, drawing not only upon court traditions and attire, but also presenting parodies (mitate) of popular legends, Noh and Kabuki performances, as well as genre scenes, all the while maintaining their youthful countenance and fleshy bodies even when clothed in layers of rich silk brocades. Tracing the history of the gosho-ningyō over the 250-year course of the Edo period is to plot the course of Edo culture itself. Each piece when examined carefully contains many layers of meaning specific to the time it was produced. From opulent to minimalist, gosho-ningyō reflect the full panoply of Edo society, all in the guise of an innocent child.

      Seated gosho-ningyō with harukoma

       Edo period, 19th century

       Height 11 inches

       Rauch Collection

      Saga-ningyō

       Edo period, 17th century

       Height 10 inches

       Ayervais Collection

      As will be seen below, within each category of Japanese doll explored there exist subtypes within subtypes, a seemingly infinite parceling within narrower and narrower forms, all expressed in a surprisingly rich and revealing vocabulary Regarding the form we generally call "gosho" today, there are over twenty different names that have been applied over time, corresponding to differences in function, position, construction, region, and maker. Like the old axiom about North American Eskimos and their rich vocabulary for describing snow, gosho-ningyō, much beloved, and very much a part of Edo culture, claim the same degree of verbal diversity: zudai-ningyō (big head doll), shiragiku-ningyō (white chrysanthemum doll), shiraniku-ningyō (white flesh doll), omiyage-ningyō (gift doll), Izukura-ningyō (named for the celebrated Osaka-based doll maker Izukura Kihei), hairyo-ningyō (emperor's gift), to name only a few

      This chapter will explore the origins and uses of gosho-ningyō in the imperial court, tracing some of their early formative steps and influences, including the opulent Saga-ningyō, with its richly textured lacquer surface, and the transitional hadaka Saga or "naked Saga," with its attenuated limbs and more natural proportions. The growth in their popularity, first among the samurai classes and eventually the merchant classes, the shifts in construction techniques and the thematic presentation will also be covered. By examining the images produced and their echoes in other media, such as woodblock prints, Noh, Kabuki, puppet theater, and popular literature, we can see how gosho-ningyō, far from being the elite preserve of the imperial court, were very much a product of popular culture, though imbued with auspicious symbolism.

      First a story: Asahara Kakuyo, a well-known second-generation ningyō collector and owner of the (sadly) now-closed Hozukiya doll shop in Tokyo, loves to tell of a gosho-ningyō her father acquired before the war while she was still a young girl. This particular gosho was considered to be especially important, whether for size or rarity she no longer recalls, but she remembers feeling that it was worth more than the value of the home they lived in. The whole family was caught up in the enthusiasm over this new addition. Her younger brother, however, thought that the doll did not at all look important, as its white gofun was soiled. In a burst of youthful inspiration and a genuine desire to please, the young boy carried the treasure with him into the bath and carefully cleaned the doll. Of course, in the process he stripped away the centuries-old gofun, the small painted eyes, the red of the lips. What emerged from the bath was essentially a well-carved block of wood which the young boy proudly presented to his father: a young child, naked from his bath, holding an object of which he was proud. A doll holding a doll. A living gosho-ningyō.

      Before we plunge into the history and details of this rich and engaging form of ningyō, it is important to remember that, above all, these were personal objects, embraced by family, loved by their owners, admired, valued, and extremely fragile—a fugitive beauty Their continued existence today in any number is a miracle given the often violent nature of Japan's history, both pre-modern and modern, as well as a testament to their importance in the culture and psyche of the Japanese.

      Wakagimi-himegimi

       (young prince and princess pair) Edo period, 19th century

       Height 18 1/2 inches

       Ayervais Collection

      Saga-ningyō

       Edo period, 17th century

       Height 10 1/2 inches

       Asahara Collection

      EXAMPLES OF GOSHO-NINGYŌ

      Saga-ningyō

      The Saga-ningyō occupy a unique space within the topography of Japanese ningyō. Based on extant examples, Saga reached the peak of their popularity during the late seventeenth to early eighteenth century, though their production is thought to have begun as early as the late sixteenth century and continued intermittently through the end of the Edo period. Although their exact origins are obscure, it is generally assumed that they were carved by Kyoto-based busshi (Buddhist sculptors) as a sideline to their craft. The Buddhist influence is readily visible in many of these figures, particularly in the mode of decorating the clothing with a raised lacquer technique called moriage, a technique commonly found on Buddhist sculptures of the period.

      The faces and hands of these figures were typically covered in a highly burnished white gofun, but unlike many of the other ningyō forms presented here, Saga-ningyō were not typically clothed with actual textiles, either draped or applied. Their rich clothing effects, for which they were celebrated, were achieved through a sophisticated application of pigments combined with gold powder. To achieve this effect, layers of gofun would be applied over the entire base wood sculpture. The intricate textile patterning was then developed through the use of a thicker bead of gofun, marking out various designs and symbols. To make them more vivid, a moriage technique was then used which involved the application of a gold powder paste to the raised line of gofun. The rich hues for which Saga are known were achieved through the further application of gold leaf and the use of vibrant pigments, a bright red in imitation of beni (scarlet red), so popular in textile dyes of the period, and a copper-based

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