Across the other pond: Ichimatsu dolls

Hola, compadres, it's RagingMoon1987 once again, and after a rather wimpy winter March has begun with a vengeance.  On March 2nd we had a wave of violent thunderstorms, and as was the case three years ago the area of strongest rotation went just north of Malden.  We have a small rail yard out near where the air base used to be, and one of the empty hopper cars broke loose and blocked part of Highway 25.  No one got hurt here in town, but a small tornado was sighted east of here (I think they said it was between Parma and Risco), so Malden dodged a bullet this time and I am very grateful.  The moving of empty hopper cars is EF1 damage at best, just as the toppling of irrigation systems is.  Unfortunately Tennessee did not fare as well as Missouri did, and my prayers are with them at this time.  Tornadoes fascinate me, as I've established in the past, but I don't wish one on anyone.  And wouldn't y'all know, there's a risk of tornadoes again today!  Indeed, the sky looks a hair threatening, so I'm taking all the necessary precautions and paying attention to the radar.  While other peoples' heads are exploding over coronavirus and the accompanying media hype, I'm simply trying not to blow away!  Anywho, now that Tornado Season 2020 has begun, today's post is one of those hinky posts that could fall into two categories.  The doll in question is Japanese, so I've chosen to label this post an "across the other pond post," but since I think she's also vintage I could've made this a Throwback Thursday post too.  I put both tags on this post to satisfy my own OCD sensibilities.  In keeping with my tradition of buying a doll and not reviewing it until months or years later, I've had this little gal since April 15th of last year.  She is an Ichimatsu doll, and though the name "Tatsumaki" might've been fitting for today I've chosen the name "Satomi" instead.  Best not ask why.

Or maybe she's just a modern doll masquerading as an Ichimatsu doll.  Your definition of an ichimatsu doll is as good as mine.  Anyway, Ichimatsu dolls (pronounced ish-ee-mat-soo) have a rich history, as Japanese dolls tend to do.  The name "Ichimatsu" is capitalized because it's a proper name; the first of these dolls were named and designed after an Edo-era Kabuki actor.  Kabuki actors are almost always male and have been since about 1629, and thus the first Ichimatsu dolls were little boys, though now they come in either gender.  Like Licca-chan, some folk stories exist about these dolls coming to life and doing things like growing their hair or falling in love with their makers, so if Annabelle gives y'all the heebie-jeebies you may want to avoid these.

Inevitably when one researches the history of Ichimatsu dolls one stumbles across the friendship doll exchange, which occurred in late 1927 and early 1928.  In this exchange, some 12,000 American dolls were sent to Japan for goodwill reasons.  The Japanese were delighted by this show of kindness and returned the favor with fifty-eight well-dressed, accessorized Ichimatsu dolls (called "torei-ningyo" or "dolls of gratitude" by the Japanese, and "friendship dolls" by the Americans).  Each "friendship doll" represented an important city, prefecture, or colony of Japan, while the most elaborate doll represented the whole country.  334 of the American "blue-eyed dolls" survived World War II and are now lovingly preserved by the Japanese (some of them can be seen here), while forty-six of the fifty-eight Japanese friendship dolls survive and are also carefully preserved.  Of the twelve missing Japanese dolls, only one is known for sure to be destroyed, that one being the original Miss Ehime, who resided in Gulfport, Mississippi and disappeared during Hurricane Camille.  The Japanese were nice enough to send a replacement in 1988, but she too was lost to a hurricane (Katrina this time).  Miss Toyama was also thought to be lost in a flood at one point, but she was found and after a visit to her homeland for some extensive repairs she's back at her sentinel in Louisville, Kentucky.  In all, thirty-eight of the surviving forty-six dolls are available for viewing, though some require a special appointment to be seen and most of them understandably cannot be handled.  I reserve a special fondness for Miss Nara and Miss Fukushima; Miss Nara made a brief appearance in an old issue of American Girl Magazine, and Miss Fukushima is a denizen of my home state of Missouri.  Miss Fukushima also wears green, so I WOULD like her (LOL).  Since the earthquake in 2011 Miss Fukushima has received a fair amount of attention (her home prefecture was hardest hit), and her complicated story can be found here.  The top picture in Miss Fukushima's article shows some of the nice things that accompanied these friendship dolls, items like extra shoes and tea accessories and other do-dads that were important in traditional Japanese daily life.  The scuttlebutt online is that Miss Fukushima now resides in a private collection, and if so...well, bummer for me because I'd love to meet her, but congrats to the lucky person who has her!  I reckon Miss Fukushima could do with a little private time anyway (LOL again).  Not all Ichimatsu dolls are friendship dolls, of course.  Indeed, most are not.  These dolls usually were playthings, both for Japanese children and western children alike.  Some also served as souvenirs for tourists, and a few found their way into the arms of celebrities like Caroline Kennedy, Shirley Temple, Helen Keller, Jane Withers, and...Babe Ruth???  Yep, the legendary slugger received a doll at some point in his life, though the source I cited isn't sure when he got the doll, or from whom.  I don't know if Ms. Keller's Ichimatsu dolls still survive since many of her dolls tragically burned in a house fire, nor do I know the whereabouts of Mr. Ruth's doll, but the rest are apparently alive and well.  Four of Shirley Temple's dolls can be seen here; note that they are different sizes but otherwise are identical.  Atom bomb victim Sadako Sasaki appears to have been buried with a small Ichimatsu doll; one can be seen close to her head in this image.  Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Alrighty, that's quite enough history that y'all probably didn't give a flying burrito about!  My Satomi may not be old, and she may not be one of the fifty-eight friendship dolls, and she may never have belonged to anyone famous, but she's mine now and I'm pleased as punch to have her.  Ichimatsu dolls of her size go for a pretty penny on eBay, but I suspect they're quite a bit older than Satomi is, and I suppose that they're actually made of old-fashioned materials (Satomi, as we'll soon see, is not).  Now let's look a bit closer.  Satomi is a lot smaller than her 33-inch friendship sisters, being similar in height to an American Girl or a Hot Looks doll and taller than a Hearts for Hearts Girl.

Satomi differs from her friendship sisters in another crucial way, as her hair is rooted rather than wigged.  It falls to her mid-back and has no layers.

The root job is quite good.  The plugs are thick and evenly spaced, and the hair isn't pulling out at the drop of a hat like a certain other little doll that I own!

Satomi sports bangs up front, just as most Ichimatsu dolls do, but unfortunately her bangs are uneven.  When I smooth the left side of her bangs they even out briefly, so I can at least say that they're not cut crookedly.  A stent with a properly wrapped scarf will likely get them to lie flat again. 

The rest of Satomi's hair is smooth and straight and shiny, but it feels slightly sticky to the touch, like she had way too much gel in there at one time.  Not only does this make her hair tangle easily, but it's also allowed her to become a dust magnet.  But luckily for Satomi I can do something that I couldn't do with an older Ichimatsu doll, and give her a hairwash.  Why?  Because her head is made of vinyl!  Usually these Ichimatsu dolls have heads made of gofun or porcelain, but my girl has a hard vinyl head.  Her head is quite wide, and as a result her face is too.

I admit that I'm just a smidge bummed that Satomi's head is not gofun, as gofun is not a material I've yet seen in real life (until now), but I've been told that gofun can be fragile just like porcelain and aged composition, so Satomi has that much up on her older sisters.  We'll soon find if gofun is fragile, but first I have to deal with Satomi.  Just look at these eyes!

Or maybe not.  Satomi's eyes do not photograph well, but trust me!  They're very dark brown and not black like Crissy's.  They are a lot darker than Mosi's eyes...

...AND Julie's.  In Julie's introductory post I spoke of how hard her eyes are to photograph, but they're not as tricky as Satomi's eyes!

Satomi's eyebrows are very light and very delicately painted.  Most of the Ichimatsu dolls I've seen have eyebrows like that, but I have seen a couple that had...well, their eyebrows were thick and heavy like those on a Jumeau.  I like Jumeau eyebrows, but that decidedly western look wouldn't have been very becoming for Satomi.  The rest of Satomi's eye paint consists of single-stroke lashes, light yellow shadowing at the eyelid creases, and highlights at the corners.

I do wish Satomi's eyes were a little lighter, as eyes this dark run the risk of looking lifeless like Crissy's or Hailey's (here we go with that complaint again), but in Satomi's case this is fairly authentic to the race she represents, as the Japanese folks that I've known all have very, very dark eyes just like this.  And of course, the shape is authentic.  I've always loved the shape of Oriental eyes, and Satomi has that down pat.  As an added bonus, I think Satomi's eyes may be glass or high-quality acrylic, so they sparkle more than Crissy's do and don't look as dead.

The lower part of Satomi's face has some orange-hued blush and lipstick that I'm not terribly fond of, though the shade does match the orange-red tones in her kimono.

I love Satomi's plump little cheeks, but I wish her blush were a different color.  The current color makes her look ill, especially when compared with that pale vinyl.  I like the lips though; they have little creases sculpted in, which I don't often get to see on a doll of any sort (usually the creases are painted rather than molded).  The paint job also fits the Japanese aesthetic, as they tend to prefer rosebud lips on their dolls and on their women...or at least their geisha.  Satomi is certainly NOT a geisha, but she still fits the artistic aesthetic well.  Not a bad little face except for that blush; I particularly love Satomi's pleasant little expression, and her lovely eyes that are dark but sparkle enough to not look dead.

As far as I know Ichimatsu dolls do not wear earrings, and so it is in Satomi's case.  She has large, somewhat low, simply molded ears with no piercings.

The crud on her ear is the result of the hair gel or whatever-it-is in Satomi's hair.  It's made her head a little sticky.  Nothing a sweep with a wet wipe won't cure!

Down to clothes now.  Oh Lordy, this is going to be fun, because Satomi is authentically dressed in a kimono.

I've had to discuss kimono twice in the past, once with Midori and once with May Lin, and I'm not looking forward to doing it again.  I'm always afraid I'll mislabel a part and look like a complete idiot.  Thus, if any of you readers out there happen to be Japanese, please know that I am an ignant American and sometimes wouldn't know a sakura from sukiyaki, let alone a furisode from a tomesode.  LOL, of course I exaggerate, as a sakura is a cherry blossom and sukiyaki is a very delicious-looking foodstuff.  I also exaggerate regarding the furisode and the tomesode, as they have different sleeves and are thus fairly easy to distinguish.  As far as I know, none of my dolls are wearing tomesode, as tomesode are usually reserved for married women or sometimes for geisha.  Of course this would mean that Satomi is clad in a furisode, complete with the long sleeves.

Furisode are the most formal kimono available for unmarried women and are thus popular for weddings, fancy gatherings or extra-special holidays.  Satomi's furisode is a rather unusual combination of black and orange, with a very elaborate pattern (not woven, as it would've been on a real furisode).  The images on this furisode consist of old-style Japanese houses (these are death traps in an earthquake, as the people of Kobe sadly found out)...

...along with what appears to be a stream.  This stream has copious blossoms growing along it, along with what appear to be small willow trees.

Very fitting, as the willow is highly revered by the Japanese.  They respect the willow for its beauty and its strength, as well as for medicinal purposes and use in some Buddhist rituals.  Maiko (geisha in-training) will wear kanzashi with willow leaves in their hair during June, as June can be a rainy month and willows love rain.

Satomi's furisode is lined underneath with this lovely pumpkin-colored fabric that has a slight golden sheen.

Satomi may not be as well-made as the older Ichimatsu dolls, but this kimono is not to be sneezed at!  Not only is it fully lined, but the proper undergarments are also in place.  It's possible to see both of these inside Satomi's sleeves.

The undergarment, or nagajuban, is white in Satomi's case (it was yellow in May Lin's ensemble), and it peeps out a tiny bit at her neckline.

When everything is worn correctly the collar is the only part of the nagajuban that's supposed to show.  Because of this many nagajuban come with detachable collars that can be switched around to match the outfit.  Another interesting thing about nagajuban is that they are subtly but heavily embellished, usually with white embroidery or another color that matches the base color of the nagajuban.  Both men and women wear nagajuban that are embroidered like this, and this in turn allows for men to have a little fun with patterns without being super-effeminate.  Satomi's nagajuban has the aforementioned embroidery (or a pattern that looks like embroidery), in the form of clouds and blossoms.

When's the last time y'all saw a touch like that on a doll???  The nagajuban can't even be seen for the most part, and yet it's STILL just as nice as the outerwear.

Since I'm down here underneath the main kimono, let's take a look at Satomi's footwear.  Ichimatsu dolls usually wear only tabi on their feet (or nothing on their feet), with geta being separate.  The friendship dolls came with geta, for example, but they were packaged separately with the accessories.  Satomi has no geta at all, and I don't know that she ever did, but she does have her tabi.

These are real tabi, too.  They're made out of cloth, they can come off if I so choose, and they even snap at the ankles.

I love that little touch, because that's similar to how real tabi are.  There are elasticized tabi that are similar to our everyday socks, but the formal kind still button shut at the ankles.  Midori had no socks of any sort, and May Lin's painted tabi lacked buttons, so I'm glad to have a doll that has this little touch.

Now...up we go to the obi and its accoutrements.  I always have a hard time with this part because obi can have a lot of accessories.  Here's y'all's first look at this.  Front...

...and back.

The obi itself is orange and has embroidered gold latticework.  The orange base is of a slightly different shade and texture from the lining of the kimono.

I originally thought that knot in the back was the ever-popular taiko musubi, or drum knot, but instead it turned out to be a fukura-suzume musubi, or puffed sparrow knot.

The presence of this particular musubi says a lot, as it means Satomi is of age and available for marriage.  This knot also pops up at formal events, and thus is only seen with a furisode.  

Now that we've got the obi itself out of the way, the accessories!  The obijime is the white woven cord.  Like the obi, the obijime can be tied in many different ways (hearts!  flowers!), but Satomi has just a simple square knot.

The ends tuck into the musabi like so...

...the end is finished with a large, awkward aglet...or so I thought.  While examining the so-called aglet I discovered that it was actually a plastic sheath to protect the tasseled ends of the obijime.

I was all prepared to start griping about how ugly these ends were, but having removed the plastic I see that the ends aren't ugly at all.  On the contrary, they're quite pretty, and they're also accurate for an obijime.  The ends can be tasseled or plain, and they can be tucked into the musubi or left out.  It just depends, probably on both the occasion and the mood of the wearer.

Now...this thing on the top!!!

It's made of this lovely sheer orange fabric that has a nice texture to it.  I love touching it, but I try not to lest my grubby little fingers soil it.  I had to do some serious digging before I could find the name of this, though.  It is apparently the obiage, which is usually hidden underneath the obi.  A little bit can peep out, but this is apparently considered a bit risque since the obiage is considered an underthing.  But apparently with a furisode the obiage can be worn any way that looks pleasing!  The obiage can be knotted, tucked, knotted and tucked, folded, folded and tucked, folded and knotted, worn plain...oh Lordy, just look at the link for some ideas on what the obiage can look like when worn with a furisode.  Satomi's obiage is folded in the front and tucked into the side of furisode's opening, and the ends are tucked into the musubi like the obijime was/is.

I don't think this outfit is meant to be taken off, but when I was examining the obi I did find this hook and eye.  Well...it's sort of a hook and eye; the "eye" bit is merely a piece of thread.

That's good to know, even though I don't plan on undressing Satomi...like, EVER.  I wouldn't be able to get the kimono looking right again if I took it off, so I just won't take it off, not even for the upcoming body review.  But before we go there, I'm going to readdress the sleeves briefly, as they're open in the front.  This is apparently accurate for a furisode, but I think the slits are supposed to go in the back (I have them facing front).  Some furisode sleeves are open on both sides, but in this case I think these are supposed to face the back.  Either way, Satomi has something tucked inside her left sleeve.

A hair comb and a little protective pouch!  Now that I wasn't expecting.

I don't think Satomi is supposed to wear this, though I think in theory she could.  No, this is just a plain little hair comb, made out of woodlike plastic and quite useful for fixing Satomi's unruly-at-times hair.

Well kids, I don't know about y'all, but I learned something today!  I knew that an obiage was oft worn with an obi, but I didn't know it was okay to wear it in the way that Satomi is wearing hers!  Then again, Satomi is a girl, and it would be a bit more acceptable to wear her obiage in such an obvious way.  I think that if she were meant to be married it would be more of a no-no for it to show so much, but again, I could be wrong.  I'm super-impressed with the quality of Satomi's getup, though.  If I had one teeny-tiny complaint it would be the plastic tips on the end of that obijime, but those are easily hidden so I'll just shut up about that.  This makes me want even more to get a good look at one of the friendship dolls, though; I'd love to see if their tabi can come off and if their nagajuban are flowered.  But then again no touching is usually allowed with those dolls, so I may simply have to be satisfied with wondering.  Satomi's clothes are really a treat, though.  I can't believe I got all this for thirty bucks.  In the past I've complained about thirty bucks being a lot of money for a doll (and I will again very soon, spoiler alert), but in Satomi's case thirty bucks bought a lot.

As noted above I do not plan on completely undressing Satomi as that outfit is quite complicated and I'm not sure I could ever get it right again.  However, I can show y'all the molding on her hand.  She has chubby little banana fingers and visible nails.

Satomi's limbs are vinyl like her head, and it's possible to see that they're a bit discolored (from age, I presume).  The vinyl ends at about knee/elbow height and thus would've made good places to put joints, but alas, Satomi has no joints.  The oldest Ichimatsu dolls had/have ball-jointed bodies and thus could be posed, but then they don't cost thirty bucks like Satomi did.  I do wish that Satomi at least had some wires for posing, but then again she's not really for play.  Not all collectors like to pose their dolls like I do.

Alrighty, that's Satomi squared away.  I uncovered no major flaws with her other than that gommy hair and the ugly tips on her obijime, but I still wanted a doll made out of gofun, as it's a material I've never before seen or handled.  Not one to sit idle, I grabbed another smaller doll off eBay.  Let's say a very quick hello to Satomi's imouto-san (younger sister), Hitomi.

Hitomi is obviously a smaller child and a smaller doll as well, being close to Hattie in size.

Here's how she compares to Satomi.  I called Hitomi Satomi's imouto-san, but in truth Hitomi is small enough to be a plaything for Satomi rather than a sibling.

This, ladies and gents, is what gofun looks like!

Gofun is a bizarre medium, something like a love child between porcelain and composition...and keep in mind that I once referred to composition as a love child itself, between paper and plastic.  It's smooth and lightweight like composition, but it's also pale and matte like unglazed porcelain.  It is not as heavy as porcelain, but to me it feels a little heavier than compo.  Larger Ichimatsu dolls usually have a wood base underneath like compo often does, and the over the top of that is this layer of pulverized oyster shells, pigments for color, and glue, and that is gofun.  I'm not sure how fragile it is since I've never handled it and since I don't handle Hitomi much, but having seen pictures of older gofun dolls I think these are better off than compo dolls are.  Older gofun dolls inevitably have a few dings and scars here and there, but most of the dolls I've seen look pretty good, suggesting to me that gofun is possibly superior to both porcelain and compo in terms of strength.  So far Hitomi's finish is mostly intact, but I did notice one minuscule chink in her gofun layer.  It's barely visible but it IS there, in the inner corner of her right eye.  The line running through Hitomi's eyebrow is That One Hair, so no worries there.

At first I was afraid that I'd inflicted that chip on Hitomi's eyelid, but closer inspection of her eBay images revealed that she was always like this.  Just the same I'll take care not to make that chip worse.  Another thing I noticed about Hitomi is the rather crude molding of her hands and feet.  She has mitten hands...

...and no toes at all.

Not all gofun dolls are like this, as this young lady reveals (look carefully at her feet), but I've also seen pictures of other dolls that had appendages shaped like Hitomi's are.  The ones that I found with rounded feet were all Hitomi's size, so I reckon this was just a feature of the smaller dolls.  Some of them even had painted slippers to make their rounded toes look less odd.  But then again...this blogger reveals that even the smallest Ichimatsu dolls sometimes had well-defined feet.  Go figure, I guess.  Rounded toes or no I'm quite fond of Hitomi.  She has prettier eyes than Satomi does, though they're every bit as hard to photograph.

Her hair is more elaborate too, though the style is still simple (an embellished topknot).  I think the fiber may be horse hair, but I'm not sure about that. 

Hitomi's topknot is decorated with...I think that doughnut-shaped piece of fabric is called a kinoko.  Three small hana (flower) kanzashi adorn the front.  Look how nicely they're folded!

I only noticed this when I looked closer at Hitomi's hands, but she's got a bit of fading on her sleeves.

Satomi dodged this bullet since she's not as old as Hitomi is, but such fading is common for Ichimatsu dolls.  The traditional ones wear silk and other fabrics that fade when exposed to too much light.  This is normal, but it serves as a cautionary tale to me, to keep these ladies out of direct light.  Heck, I already knew that, but sometimes I need to be coshed over the head before I'll take advice to heart.

That's all I really have to say, so now let's wrap this up.

BAD
*I advise caution when handling gofun, as it might get brittle with age.  I'm not 100% sure on that yet, but best to err on the side of caution.
*Satomi's hair feels NASTY, though I can probably wash the nastiness out.
*I don't care much for Satomi's orange makeup, as it makes her look ill.
*Outfits cannot be removed from either doll.  Neither of these girls are toys (anymore) and should not be treated as such.
*I wish Satomi were jointed; just my preference!  Hitomi is jointed.

GOOD
*Shucks, where do I start???

No joke, Satomi and Hitomi are lovely little dolls for folks who like Japanese culture.  Granted, neither of them are toys, and neither of them are as nice as the fancy old dolls that Shirley Temple received, but they're a lot more affordable than Shirley's dolls were (and still are), and in Satomi's case I still got a lot of bang for my buck.  Hitomi is more simple, which I think is to be expected for an Ichimatsu doll her size, but she still has glass eyes and real hair, and her outfit is quite detailed for a doll her size.  Though I didn't go over Hitomi in detail, she appears to be wearing an underthing under her rather simple little kimono (which also has sleeves like a furisode).  So this pair is interesting, though they've now made me want to see one of the friendship dolls more than ever.  Going to view any of the friendship dolls would mean a rather lengthy road trip, either to Kansas City to try and find Miss Fukushima, or to Louisville, Kentucky to visit Miss Toyama.  But until then I'll satisfy myself with Satomi and Hitomi, and with any of their brothers and sisters that come my way.

Hugs to all,
RagingMoon1987