The Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur is currently hosting a very unique art exhibition entitled The World of Kokeshi which goes on until the 25th April 2013. The exhibition is organized with MBPJ (Petaling Jaya City Council) and is being held at the Petaling Jaya Museum in Taman Jaya.
If you havent already know, Kokeshi is the type of Japanese wooden dolls that comes from the northern parts of the cultural country and are all handmade from Cherry or Mizuki wood. The dolls have enlarged heads with very distinctive thin, painted lines to depict the faces.
The bodies of the dolls are beautifully decorated with floral designs while they usually do not have arms and legs. Kokeshi dolls came around after the end of World War II when they were used as mementos for friendship and were created by wood artisans in northern Japan known as kiji-shi. However, it was only in the Tohoku region that they were made according to the traditional techniques which date back to more than 2 decades. Then, the dolls were made and sold to visitors to the hot-spring while they have a lot more attraction factor today. There are 11 traditional types of Kokeshi dolls which are uniquely named.
