Friday, October 15, 2010

A Japanese Ningyo Doll


I saw this  Ningyo (human form in Japanese) doll at an Asian antique shop in Tanglin Mall when I was out running last Friday. The run started at 10am and I didn't get home till 6pm that day because I ended up shopping along the Orchard Road belt. 


I usually do not go for  traditional dolls especially the Japanese ones but this one caught my eye. It was supposedly 50 years old-the fabric does look faded and the details were quite remarkable.


Some of my friends who have read my post on the Krishnanagar dolls on the other blog will know how much I like hair on dolls. You can see why I am charmed by the hair on Ojiisan ("Granpa" in Japanese) .It's so neat!


But in the end, what really sold me was the fact that the doll is made of plastic! I did a double take when I found out. Are you surprise too? I had thought it was clay until I held it in my hands and it was so light.

Punch and Jiji chatting in my garden whilst Punch is working

8 comments:

  1. He is a handsome old man and his hair is truly neat. I'm surprised by the fact that it's made of plastic, so much detailing would have been worth of a nobler material.Hugs Rosanna
    ...running to work of course ;o)

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  2. He is so cute:)I too would never say it is made of plastic!

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  3. yes, I am surprised too about plastic.
    Anyway the fabrics are gorgeous and the hair looks clean !!
    Were you buying from 10am to 6pm? Ok I call this a good day!! LOL

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  4. I love his clothes! I would never guess he was plastic either! He sure looks happy hanging out with Punch :) Perhaps Punch should share his work with him though?

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  5. Oh how beautiful Sans! I would have added him to my collection. I like how you operate, combining exercise with shopping hee hee.

    Victoria ♥

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  6. Que maravilla!!
    Nunca imaginaria que es de plastico, me encanta.
    besitos ascension

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  7. Hi Sans! Punch and Jiji! Ha! Very bad pun... Punch was always a bit punchy, but Judy, I mean Jiji was supposed to be a girl.... :)
    I do love your Grandfather doll... can't believe he is plastic! In America when I was growing up the words "made in Japan" were synonymous with cheap easily broken plastic! That was because right after the War, they re-built their economy by making cheap plastic toys for the whole world. It was only later that they overtook everyone else in technology and then "made in Japan" came to mean hi-tech.
    I think there must be a story for Punch and Jiji!

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  8. Hehe guys :) thank you for stopping by to admire my doll :):). Betsy :), yay for the bad pun ! amd o yes, I remember the days of yore when Made in Japan not only means easy to break but cheap imitation!! They are an inspiration for this part for the world. Like China, Thailand. I can see Thailand going that way too with more and more original designs. China is such a giant, they will get there. I was wondering if this plastic doll could have been made in China when you reminded of the earlier Made in Japan products. Could not find anything on the net. For plastic, it really is quite well made.

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