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Sukawa Kokeshi – A Memory Carved in Winter

Though details of the artisan's life remain sparse, the Kokeshi echo a quiet dignity of Ichinoseki Sukawa's mountains, keepers of memory, shaped by hand and heart.

The artisan recalls a scene from before the Showa era: “I once glimpsed a young woman in a mountain village, standing beneath the fierce Sukawa winter wind. She wore an okoso veil and a shawl, with snow pants tucked into sturdy boots. The image was so striking, so pure and graceful, it lingered behind my eyelids. It was from that memory, Sukawa-style Kokeshi was born: carved from raw wood, still cloaked in bark, preserving the essence of that fleeting figure.”

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