Mountain Climbing Doll with Mountain (Two Figures) / Kirigamine

Description

• Please note that this is an old item, so some dust stains, age spots and scuffs, and fading are part of the charm of old tools.
• The bark of the birch tree is somewhat prone to peeling with age and deterioration, so please handle with care as it is delicate.
• Please check the condition of used items with the pictures before purchase. If you have any questions, please be sure to contact us before purchasing.
• Please note that the product is sensitive to water.
• Please note that we do not accept returns after purchase. Please purchase after careful consideration.

This is a valuable farmer’s art, a wooden piece (kokupa) doll, which was made in Japan during a short period of time about 100 years ago (from the early Showa period to around the 1960s).
Farmers’ art has been attracting attention again through the ages. In 1919, Western-style painter Yamamoto Ting, who had returned from his studies in Europe, decided to try “simple, entertaining, and creative labor” to make use of the traditionally wasted farming season and “bring out a great breed of industrial art from the hands of farmers all over Japan.
His practical advocacy of improving the lives of farmers through side jobs bore fruit, and in 1930, he launched the Farmers’ Art Movement, established the Japan Farmers’ Art Institute in Shinshu, coeducated trainees, and started a production association, which has grown to 49 members in 3 prefectures and 12 prefectures.

The mountain climbing dolls, in particular, were invented in the Taisho era (1912-1926) by Ryoichi Iguchi, a painter and proprietor of the Kamikochi Ryokan (inn) in Kamikochi, and Yusui Shimizu, a sculptor in Matsumoto Town, as a souvenir of mountain climbing, when mountain trails and lodging facilities were built throughout Japan as the number of climbers increased during the Meiji and Taisho eras. Mr. Shimizu later became the first person to create a souvenir of the Japanese Alps. Shimizu later established the Japan Alps Farmers’ Art Production Association and developed Matsumoto Shirakaba crafts nationwide.
Most of the production was made before and after the Showa period, and then until around the 1960s. Yamatsuke is a characteristic of the postwar period. At that time, it was produced as a sideline job for carvers, carpenters, painters, and teachers, and is a wonderful piece of work in both design and technique.