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Anyone can enjoy learning to make dolls. We are always looking for students.
This is a kit of materials that you can make by yourself.
Search by Prefecture
Store ListAnyone can enjoy learning to make dolls. We are always looking for students.
This is a kit of materials that you can make by yourself.
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Head Doll Maker
Designated by the Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry
Traditional Craftwork, Iwatsuki Doll
Traditional Craftsman
Kumakura Mitsuru
Hina Dolls are Babies’ Protective Gods
That’s the meeting only once in a lifetime.
I’m pursuing brilliance every day.
Even though I make hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of doll heads as a head maker, customers select only one doll. Therefore, that’s the meeting of a lifetime.
Therefore, I put my whole heart and soul into making something brilliant.
There are dozens of kinds and they are changing over time.
When a customer asks me to repair an old doll, I recognize it at first sight.
When it comes back, I remember my old days and think “I created this a long time ago.”
Then, I restore it the way it was, because the customer liked it, displayed it for a long time, and sent it for repair.
If I create it in today’s style, it turns into a different thing.
Hina Doll are babies’ protective gods, so I hope they are taken out and displayed every year.
I think that’s educational, because a seasonal festival signals a turning point, after all.
熊倉 満
Kumakura Mitsuru
Head Doll Maker
Traditional Craftsman of Traditional Craftwork, Iwatsuki Doll designated by the Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry
Born in Kazo City, Saitama Prefecture in 1954
In 1972, started training to make heads of Toso Dolls. Trained under a head maker, Fujino Tsunekichi.
In 1985, learned color technology under the mentorship of Kumakura Seisho, a leading doll creator.
Since then, continues to improve himself and devote himself to the study of making doll heads in a traditional way.
