Yoshitoku

Yoshitoku
ADDRESS: 1-9-14 Asakusabashi
Location: Taito-ku
Station: Asakusabashi (1 min.)
Phone: 03/3863-4419
Hours: 10:00am-5:00pm
Closed Sunday and holidays

Once known as doll-maker to the Emperor, Yoshitoku has been crafting and distributing dolls since 1711. Yoshitoku has had a shop at this location and it has continued operation from generation to generation since then, making it Tokyo's oldest wholesale doll and traditional crafts store. It will soon celebrate its 300thanniversary. The present owner, Tokubei Yamada, represents the 11th generation. The name Yoshitoku is a combination of the first characters of the founder's family and given names: Yoshinoya Tokubei. Under the brand name "Yoshitoku Taiko Dolls" they continually strive to preserve the craftsmanship and improve the quality of highly acclaimed traditional Japanese dolls, and at the same time endeavor to design and develop products with a new feel that will add flavor and charm to modern life.

The products in which they at Yoshitoku take particular pride are their traditional Japanese dolls and dolls for the Girls' and Boys' Festivals that are celebrated every spring.

It carries a variety of Japanese dolls on its first floor, most traditionally filled with miniatures dressed as samurai, geisha, Kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, and other Japanese personalities down to the finest, most historically accurate detail. There are also fine # and expensive # dolls representing the imperial court, dressed in silk kimonos that follow the originals down to the minutest detail. Obviously, these dolls are meant not for children's play but for display by collectors. Upstairs are more mundane modern dolls, including stuffed animals.

The Yoshitoku Doll Company in Tokyo, which made most of the Torei dolls, probably made Miss Yamaguchi. Miss Yamaguchi is a Japanese ambassador doll, one of 58 dolls sent to cities in the U.S. from the Japanese government in November 1927. These dolls were sent in response to gifts of some 700 American Friendship Dolls. Her body is mostly wood, covered with a skin made of many layers of powdered shell, called gofun. Her eyes are glass, and she has real human hair. All the dolls are made to look like individuals; their costumes differ, as do their features styles. They wear underwear and socks, or tabi, which is unusual for Japanese dolls.

These dolls have received numerous awards at exhibitions here in Japan as well as abroad.

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