Also known as “yanagi” or “willow dolls,” Kamo ningyo are lighthearted and playful; most are figures of everyday people doing everyday things. Groups of dolls, such as these, were also made. The main identifying characteristics of the earliest examples of Kamo dolls are their small size (from less than one inch to 4 inches tall, or 3 to 10 cm tall) and their happy facial expressions. The oldest dolls have narrow triangular eyes, a tipped-up nose, a smiling mouth with a V-shaped lower lip, and the red/orange crepe and green brocade used for their costumes. Their eyebrows and hair are painted with sumi ink.

Kamo dolls were strictly regional, made only at the Upper Kamo, or Kamigamo Shrine in Kyoto. Originally made in the first half of the eighteenth century by priests or craftsmen in the service of the shrine, the dolls were sold as souvenirs and charms at festival time. The festive mood is echoed in the smiling, friendly faces, an identifying feature of Kamo ningyo. Their development is ascribed to one Takahashi Tadashige (ca. 1736-40), a craftsman employed at the Kamo Shrine, who made the dolls from pieces of willow wood left over from making ritual objects and scraps of brocade and silk used for shrine festivals. Use of these sacred materials conferred special blessings. Also, willow wood was plentiful because willow trees grew abundantly on the banks of the Kamo River. Kamo dolls are, in fact, small wooden statues of which the head, hands and feet are carved and left in the natural wood color, the features delicately painted. The body is then clothed by a technique called “kimekomi,” loosely translated meaning “push (textile) into wood to form a pattern.” The contours of the clothing are incised in the wooden figure and then covered with different kinds of textiles, which are lightly glued and tightly pushed into the cuts, thus forming the different layers and designs of the clothes.

In the early nineteenth century, a descendant of Takahashi Tadashige also created very fine dolls of slightly different character. Using the same materials and technique, he made naturalistic and dramatic full-length figures with long faces. Today, many kimekomi dolls of 20th century origin are found at temple fairs and antique markets, but true Kamo dolls with unfinished wood faces are something of a rarity. The late Lea Baten, a renowned Japanese doll authority, describes their rarity on pages 40-41 of her book JAPANESE DOLLS: THE IMAGE AND THE MOTIF: “It is to be noted that real Kamo dolls are all wood, with clothes made by the kimekomi technique, that they are extremely rare and only to be found in private collections and museums such as the Kyoto National Museum, which has a representative collection of these dolls.”

CONDITION is remarkably good, with normal wear and very minor fabric loss, which is totally consistent with age and usage. The original patina of the unfinished willow wood is simply wonderful. DIMENSIONS: 2 ¾” (7 cm) to 3 ¼ (8.3 cm) inches high, 1 ½” (3.8 cm) to 2 ¾” (7 cm) wide at base, all approximately 1 ½” (3.8 cm) deep.