Charity Kokeshis チャリティーこけし

Back in March and April 2013 the Tsugaru Kokeshi Kan 津軽こけし館 held a charity kokeshi event in support of of the March 11th, 2011 disaster victims from Kuroishi City's sister city Miyako City 宮古市 in Iwate Prefecture. For the charity nine different Tsugaru kokeshi 津軽系こけし masters created small, 6-centimeter pieces with designs of apples and hamagiku ハマギク, a type of daisy that lives along the Pacific coast of Tohoku and is Miyako's city flower. Naoko bought three of them which arrived the other day. From left to right they were made by Mr. Hasegawa Kenzo 長谷川健三さん, Mrs. Honma Naoko 本間直子さん, and 島津誠一さん Mr. Shimazu Sei'ichi. Really nice, and obviously for a good cause. If you want to read about the charity event (Japanese only) visit the Tsugaru Kokeshi Kan's blog and scroll over to 11 March: http://kokeshikan.exblog.jp

How to buy a kokeshi link こけしを買うのリンク

For the English-speaking kokeshi fans, here's a useful link that I found on the Tokyo Kokeshi Friends Association web site, including recognizing kokeshi shapes, recent kokeshi events, and how to make purchases.
http://cactus.44423.jp/buy_kokeshi/
It was done by the Aoba Kokeshi Association 青葉こけし会 in Sendai, and while a good amount of the text is in Japanese there's also enough English that you should be able to navigate around for some very useful information on a variety of kokeshi-related topics. I'm really impressed that the Aoba folks took the time to do the translation for non-Japanese speaking kokeshi enthusiasts. 

Desert Kokeshi 4 砂漠のこけし 4

The environment in the Arabian Desert is extremely harsh. Not only is the sun relentlessly beating down, but it's also surprisingly windy here. On some days the conditions are just right for the dust to be picked up off the ground and get suspended in the air, and then you have a dust storm. We had one here for the last two days and it was quite fascinating, though everything, including my room, became covered with a layer of very fine dust that blew through my air conditioner. Anyway, I took my Togatta kokeshi 遠刈田こけし outside during the end of the storm for some photos. I found a small sand dune (yes, there is sand here, but not as much as one would think), and you can also see the dust in the air in the second photo.
سلام

A small sand dune.

You can see the dust in the air in the background. It was actually much worse earlier in the day, with no blue sky at all.

Desert Kokeshi 3 砂漠のこけし 3

In the last blog I showed a picture of my one kokeshi in a rocky part of the desert. Today I brought it out to a smoother area with more sand. As you can see it's extremely bright in this part of the world -- sunglasses are essential here -- and it really hot! I believe it was about 41 degrees Celsius (106 F) today, and yesterday it was at least 43 (110 F), though probably higher than that. When the wind blows it's like a giant hair dryer is blasting you. This is definitely not kokeshi weather, and I'm afraid my kokeshi might get sunstroke one of these days. In fact, as you can see in the pictures below the kokeshi out here in the Arabian desert seems very out of place. Frankly, kokeshis need cool days, clouds, rain, trees, snow, and mountains just like people do.
سلام

Desert Kokeshi 2 砂漠のこけし2

Here are some pictures of my one kokeshi somewhere out in the Arabian desert.

 

Desert Kokeshi 砂漠のこけし

Fellow kokeshi enthusiasts, greetings from somewhere in the Middle East! My job has sent me to this very hot, dry part of the world, but unfortunately I cannot say the location. Anyway, I brought one kokeshi to keep me company during my stay here. As you can see, it's a beautiful Togatta kokeshi 遠刈田系こけし that Naoko and I got sometime last year. It was used, but I can't recall if it was from a Tokyo Kokeshi Friends meeting, or if we received it as a gift, but it's a beautiful piece. I really like the kimono collar and "pound sign" motif. I'm not sure whose work this is, so I've posted a photo of the signature on the back of the kokeshi if you're curious. I don't have my kokeshi craftsmen reference books with me right now, so finding out who made it is difficult. Anyway, these may be the first pictures of a kokeshi taken in the Middle Eastern desert!
سلام

April Tokyo Kokeshi Friends Meeting ４月東京こけし友の会

The last Sunday of April was the monthly Kokeshi Friends meeting in the Kanda section of Tokyo, so Naoko and I once again headed downtown to see our kokeshi comrades and learn more about our favorite wooden dolls. I'll let the pictures below tell the story of a great day!

Outside the Kanda train station 神田駅.

We had lunch at this Chinese restaurant before the meeting. NOT recommended.

We arrived about 30 minutes before the meeting started and received numbers 56 and 57 for the kokeshi raffle. The room was already packed with anxious kokeshi fans.

In fact it was so packed that we were in the last row of chairs at the very back of the room.

We heard a very nice lecture about these Togatta kokeshis 遠刈田系こけし, and how the craftsman's style evloved over the decades.

Some of the special kokeshis available either for bidding or a drawing. I'm not sure which was which, but for some of them there was a minimum price and whoever had the highest bid won. For the others, one's name was drawn from a box and that person could then purchase the kokeshi that he or she wanted.

Naoko wanted this nice Tsugaru kokeshi 津軽系こけし by Mr. Kon Akira 今晃さん from Aomori Prefecture, but by the time her name was drawn someone else had already gotten it. Too bad -- Mr. Kon's work is awesome and hard to get! 

More of the kokeshis up for bid.

There weren't any new kokeshis at this meeting, but there was a great variety of used kokeshis on the raffle table.

Another view of the raffle kokeshis.

Naoko and I liked this Nambu kokeshi 南部系こけし (right), but apparently someone else did too since it was gone by the time our numbers were called.

I got this little Abe kokeshi during my turn. 600 yen -- not bad.

Naoko got this beautiful Sakunami kokeshi 作並系こけし by the late Mr. Shoji Suzuki 鈴木昭二さん.

Waiting for the train home on the Yamanote Line. Kokeshi Adventure complete!