I was just doing a bit of research at the Akita Kokeshi Association's 秋田こけし会 web site and found out that from 13-16 August 2015 there is going to be a Kijiyama kokeshi 木地山系こけし exhibition in Yuzawa City 湯沢市 in southern Akita Prefecture 秋田県. Here is the poster -- Japanese only, sorry -- which states that the exhibition will be held at the Yuzawa City Kawatsura Lacquerware and Traditional Arts Center 湯沢市川連漆器伝統工芸館 during the above dates.
Naoko and I will not be able to make it to this event which is too bad since this would be a great chance to get back to Akita and possibly add some Kijiyama kokeshis to our collection since they are never easy to find. Nevertheless, I did want to alert other foreign kokeshi enthusiasts within and outside of Japan that this event is coming up soon and that it will be a great opportunity if you happen to traveling to Tohoku in mid-August. Kijiyama kokeshis are very distinctive and simple, and are well known for the body and head being lathed from a single piece of wood rather than being made from a separate head and body like most kokeshis. If you'd like to see what I'm talking about please check out this blog entry at the Aoba (Sendai) Kokeshi Association's web site which covered the 39th Annual Akita Kokeshi Exhibition that occurred back in February. Lots of good photos of Kijiyama kokeshis, and it looks like that would also be a fantastic kokeshi festival to attend sometime in the future.
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