Birth of the Kokeshi doll

There is a deep relationship between the people's lives in Japan and the birth of Kokeshi doll.
I will talk about that today.

It is Edo period that Kokeshi doll was born about 200 years ago. It is an age where it walked with the sword the samurai did his topknot, called "chommage".

Also in Japan, the productive center of Kokeshi doll is concentrated in the region with the hot spring in the Tohoku region.





The main industry was agriculture in the own country about 200 the day before of year. Especially, rice farm was the most active.People in Japan have eaten rice everyday even now.

As for the climate at the Tohoku region, the winter is long! The snow of some point does not relieved for half of a year.
At last, people who did agriculture germinate the rice plant in a warm place in spring. That is April comes in the end of March.

When May comes, "Plant rice" is done. Summer comes in July. The day that is very hot, and exceeds the temperature 30 degrees continues. The heat greatly grows the rice plant.

At last, the rice plant faces the harvest when September comes in October in autumn.
There is harvest work that is called "Inekari".
It was did by their family's hand  work 200 years ago though they does it with a special machine in modern days.

We have a legend for the making rice in Japan. "The Kanji character of rice means it of 88. It is because 88 hand work is necessary by the time rice is completed. "

Rice that is Japanese staple food is to take time too much to raising.

It is a start of the long winter when becoming it at the end of November. It becomes very cold when the rice farm of the age ends at last, too, and it has a heavy fall of snow. When it is shut by the snow, it is not possible to engage in farming. The farmer is closing in winter.

The farmers went to the travel in the hot spring to heal a very tired body in rice farm during the winter. In the hot spring, there is a very good for the tired body is healed effect. That is called "Touji(Hot-spring cure)". There were quite a lot of people who took the Touji for a cure in the Tohoku region.

The side job during winter was necessary for the farmers in winter.
 There was work of the log processing that used "Potter's wheel" for one. The tree was processed to tableware etc. The works made by using "Potter's wheel" sold and the supplementary income was obtained.
The doll thought as a souvenir of the guest of Touji is Kokeshi doll.

In those days, other dolls of Japan was very expensive, and the farmers were not able to buy them.
However, Kokeshi dolls seems to have been very at a low price pleased with a simple kokeshi doll only of rounding the tree, too.

It gradually became famous in the Japanese whole country, and the person who researched the kokeshi doll also showed up.
If it is Japanese, "Kokeshi doll" know without fail now had the history of born from such people's live.

The question and the impression are waited for concerning "Kokeshi doll". Moreover, please point it out if there is an unnatural point in English. Where to make contact eng@kijidaruma.com