Milwaukee Public Museum

• Miss Kasumi Tsukuba
• About Miss Kasumi Tsukuba
• 1927 Friendship Dolls
• Events
• Podcasts
• Sponsors

About Miss Kasumi Tsukuba

Dossier

Miss Kasumi Tsukuba

Miss Kasumi Tsukuba is the doll representing Japan’s Ibaraki Prefecture. Her name reflects two major geographic features of Ibaraki Prefecture: Lake Kasumigaura (Japan’s 2nd largest freshwater lake) and Mount Tsukuba (Japan’s 3rd highest mountain).

The Ichimatsu dolls were modeled after an 18th century Kabuki actor who specialized in female roles. Elaborately dressed with moveable limbs, these dolls eventually came to represent femininity in Japan. The doll evolved in style to the Yamato type doll, which were often presented to honored visitors as token of the giver’s esteem and a symbol of Japan. These dolls often had extensive wardrobes and accessories representing daily life in Japan.

Miss Kasumi Tsukuba has a cloth jointed body, with ground Kiri wood and rice paste composite head and limbs covered with a “skin” of gofun (ground oyster shell in a resin carrier). She contains a voice box, making her a nakiko, or “crying child,” doll.

A Confusing Life

This photograph was taken in 1927 of the Friendship Doll “Miss Ibaraki.” The doll in the image has not yet been identified in any American collection.

By the time Miss Kasumi Tsukuba got to Milwaukee in 1928 she was already a well-traveled little lady, showing signs of the wear and tear constant parties and travel could have on a small frame. The American handlers confounded matters a little too, often confusing the chests, toys and identity papers of Miss Tsukuba and her sister dolls. By the time they were distributed to their permanent American homes, some dolls had mix of others’ effects, and in the case Miss Tsukuba, even a new name.

Miss Kasumi Tsukuba’s accessories carry two differing symbols, the peony and the mountain cherry blossom. The objects marked with the peony are appropriate to Miss Tsukuba. Her parasol is that of Miss Nagasaki. Letters written by Japanese children for Miss Ibaraki and the original doll stand were sent to Nebraska and reside with the doll known as Miss Mie. The symbols on the MPM doll’s kimono are representative of Tochigi Prefecture leading doll scholars to believe Miss Tsukuba may really be Miss Tochigi, Sachiko Nikko.

For 80 years, however, she has been known as Miss Kasumi Tsukuba or “Miss Ibaraki” and she has happily taken on that role and meaning in life.

Life at the MPM

Miss Kasumi Tsukuba went on exhibit three days before Christmas in December of 1928. She stayed on exhibit until 1942, when she was removed from exhibit and stored, probably to protect her from the animosity of the War years. She was returned to display in the 1950s, then again in 1968 for the 40th anniversary of the Friendship Doll program, but after that only occasionally used in periodic doll exhibits and children’s programs.

Restoration

Dolls at the Yoshitoku factory where Miss Ibaraki was created and restored.

The Yoshitoku Company of Tokyo has been making and distributing dolls in Japan since 1711. In the 1920’s, company president Tukubei Yamada the 10th took a leading role in selecting doll craftsmen to design and create dolls for the original Friendship Doll Program.

Now, eighty years later, the Yoshitoku Company, under president Tukubei Yamada the 11th, continues working with the Friendship Doll Program in a restorative role. The Yoshitoku Company began restoring friendship dolls in 1974 when Miss Hiroshima (Maryland’s doll) was returned to Japan for exhibition.

Miss Tsukuba was returned to Japan for restoration in October 2006. The people of Ibaraki Prefecture, under the auspices of the Ibaraki Committee for the Homecoming of Miss Kasumi Tsukuba, funded the restoration, and craftsman Masaru Aoki of Yoshitoku Company performed the work. Seven months of careful and detailed restoration using traditional materials and methods have fully restored Miss Kasumi Tsukuba into a shining, beautiful doll that will last another 100 years.