KOKESHI: CONTINUED AND CREATED TRADITIONS(MOTIVATIONS FOR A JAPANESE FOLK ART DOLL)

This study will concentrate on the transformative nature of culturally specific folk art objects, and how they are contextualized within narratives of national tradition and regionalism. Utilizing the Japanese wooden folk art doll kokeshi as a vivid example, I will explore how tradition becomes embodied in objects, and in turn how the image of the kokeshi is actively used to define perceived traditional spaces under the umbrella of cultural nationalism and nostalgia. The establishment of folk art categories like kokeshi reflects the deeper dynamics of Japanese nation building, and the role that the Tōhoku region (the production area for kokeshi) plays in national cohesiveness. Tōhoku and the products within it act as perceived repositories of tradition and self-discovery in what are defined as furusato (hometown) spaces. Those landscapes and objects found within these hometowns become by association traditional and evocative of a past more simple and serene lifestyle. The classification, collection, and creation of works devoted to the perceived regional characteristics of kokeshi will be explored in relation to the larger topic of national cohesion and the formations of traditions