KOKESHI
La tradizione artigianale del Tōhoku
At the MUDEC – Museo delle Culture of Milan, an exhibition presents for the first time in Italy a large collection of kokeshi, small doll-like wood sculptures that are considered the cultural emblem of the Tōhoku region, in the north-east of Japan.
The exhibition, organized within the framework agreement between the University of Milan and the MUDEC, with the support of The Japan Foundation and the patronage of the Consulate General of Japan in Milan, was edited by professors Virginia Sica, of the Department of Language Mediation and Intercultural Communication, and Rossella Menegazzo, of the Department of Cultural Heritage and Environment, together with the writer Carmen Covito.
Ancient and modern kokeshi from private Italian collections will be exhibited, together with some unique pieces that have been specially made for this exhibition by three workshops of master artisans of Tōhoku.
The region of Tōhoku, also known for the tragic events caused by the great earthquake of 2011, is today particularly active in the enhancement of its own artisan heritage, which presents itself as a living tradition, with workshops where the techniques and decorative systems are still today handed down from father to son.
As for the most wooden artistic sculptures, even the production of kokeshi begins with the choice and the cutting of the tree. The manufacturing carried out on the lathe by the master craftsman is completed with a painted decoration that differs according to the schools, the era, and the production area.
As Professor Maria Teresa Orsi writes in the presentation of the exhibition, these dolls “simple, hand-colored in a codified but almost infinite variety of formal representations, constitute one of the most unique examples of a craftsmanship born in the north-east of Japan”. It is believed that the kokeshi originated at the beginning of the nineteenth century “by the inhabitants of the mountain villages, then moved to the various thermal centers, onsen, where still most of the artisans maintain their laboratories. Over time, especially from the beginning of the twentieth century, they spread throughout Japan, sometimes turning into simple souvenir objects (omiyage) to be hurriedly bought and brought to friends and relatives, until, starting around 1928, they began to be considered products to collect with the care and the respect that is due to a work of art. “
