Hakata Dolls

Last night I went to paint claydolls. Fukuoka used be known as Hakata, and Hakata dolls are well known throughout Japan. They come in many different styles and can be realistic or characters. They are not only women but also men, with many dolls of warriors. The artists who make the dolls have great skill, sadly I did not! While I was there a man was talking to one of the artists about some work he had commissioned. The artist was making a doll of his father in his navy uniform, the doll stood about 30 cm high, sculpted from clay, and they were having a very serious conversation about the buttons on the dolls uniform... and getting the detail correct, can you imagine how small the buttons were?
I needed a bit more attention to detail myself, my poor little doll started out as a boy but ended up as a girl, there some very shaky lines but we all had a good time.

Pick my doll from the "real" thing!

Genuine Hakata Dolls