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| Note the logo on the bottom left. |
Last weekend Naoko and I were pleasantly surprised to find out that one of the giant stores in western Tokyo -- Joyful Honda -- was having a traditional kokeshi "fair" in its arts and crafts section. They even had a big banner over the area so you couldn't miss the display. The banner itself was cool: It was so enormous that it was visible from all over the store, it was shaped like a noren, and it had a special logo suggesting that a graphic design pro who knows and loves kokeshis did the work. That in and of itself was worth seeing.
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| Naoko examining the display. |
While the display was not huge it was definitely thorough, with a very nice selection including a large selection of Naruko kokeshis 鳴子系こけし. Moreover, the prices seemed about the same as what we've seen elsewhere. There were also many traditional wooden toys from Tohoku, a large selection of books and magazines, kokeshi notebooks and goods, blanks for those wanting to design their own kokeshis, some Hina kokeshis for the upcoming Girls Day, and even some Kokeshikas (Kokeshi + Matyroshika) from the Kokeshika shop down in Kamakura. Overall, very impressive.
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| A nice variety of traditional kokeshis and wooden toys. |
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| A nice selection of magazines and goods. We bought the latest edition of Kokeshi Jidai こけし時代. |
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| Kokeshi blanks for making your own masterpiece. |
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| Cute little mushrooms with traditional kokeshi faces. What's not to like about these? |
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| The Naruko display. |
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| Hina kokeshis. |
If the Joyful Honda Kokeshi Fair at the Mizuho Town 瑞穂町 branch sounds interesting to you, it will be running through 3 March (2014).
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