for its part did much to improve travel conditions along the Tokaido and other roads along which the embassy would travel, repairing bridges, securing fords, and at times erecting inns especially for the envoys and their entourages. A special route called the Chōsen-jin kaido ("Korean Highway") was followed which eschewed the more direct route of the Tokaido and swung on a more northerly circuit to pass through the towns of Hikone, Ōgaki, and Nagoya, all the better to show off the visiting dignitaries and capitalize on the spectacle provided. Upon reaching the capital, the 1748 Korean embassy was routed through town along the most advantageous route possible as they made their way to and from their temporary lodgings at Higashi Hoganji, part of the Asakusa Sensoji complex. This path led them along sections of Nihonbashi Street, and, coincidentally through the middle of the celebrated doll market referred to as the Jukkendana where ningyō artists and merchants alike would have had ringside seats to the display People along these routes, in anticipation of the exciting event, would be swept over with Korean fever, adopting "foreign" clothing styles with long silk outer coats and broad-rimmed hats.
Long after the embassies themselves had passed by, the towns continued to commemorate these events with parades and floats (Chōsen-yama) in the Korean mode at their annual round of festivals. Residents of the Takeshima-cho section of Ōgaki, one of the principal cities along the Chōsen-jin kaido, were particularly noted for their annual re-creation of the Korean embassy, going so far as to order special textiles from the Nishijin section of Kyoto based on sketches of Korean costumes that the residents had made during the passing of actual embassies. Similarly in Edo, during the San'nō Festival, residents of the Kojimachi area adjacent to Hie-jinja Shrine where the San'nō deity is housed, reformulated the Korean embassies, complete with pennants and sedan chairs, but with the added novelty of a giant elephant float. Although the elephant bore no direct relationship to the embassy, its inclusion by the residents of Kojimachi insured fame and notoriety for their contribution to the San'nō festivities.
The standing figure on page 59, while very much a gosho-ningyō in terms of its round face and small, centered features, including a mizuhiki presentation ribbon elaborately painted on its forehead, is very much an ishō-ningyō in terms of its intent and execution. The long-sleeved outer coat decorated with a dark ribbon-like fringe and long trailing front tie belt evoke a feeling of "foreign-ness." Not based on any actual country's fashion, attire such as this captured what the public thought a foreigner might wear. The broad-rimmed cap, painted with abstract designs and topped by a small chirimen silk crepe-covered knob, is the artists interpretation of a Korean kat, a wide-rimmed horsehair woven hat that was worn by Korean dignitaries and members of the Korean mission to Japan. Although large-scale standing ningyō of this subject are very rare, smaller seated versions depicting gosho clad only in a haragake bib, but wearing this signature cap, appear with some frequency, indicating a certain popularity of this form among ningyō makers and the buying public at the time.
In addition to the textiles, the physical elements of the figure itself cleverly point to its origins in the parade of Chōsenjin. The left leg is slightly forward, creating an impression of forward movement. This sense of movement is further accentuated by the slight bend at the waist. The display base, rather than being of finished lacquer, is made of sand and dirt sprinkled over glue on a plain wooden base, the gravel-like effect deftly simulating the surface of the Chōsen-jin kaido itself. The right hand, though empty now, possibly originally held aloft the dragon flag (hiyōngmyonggi) of the Korean emperor or the Chōsenjins signature banner that read in Korean "ch'ongdo" (Jp. seidō), literally meaning "clear the way." Both of these figure prominently in many of the painted images of the Korean missions to Japan executed during the Edo period, such as the celebrated hanging scroll by Hanegawa Tōei in the Kobe City Museum commemorating the 1748 Korean mission to Edo.
Mitate Gosho-ningyō: Matsuo Bashō
In 1689, the haiku poet Matsuo Bashō (1644-94) began his celebrated thirty-month journey to explore the oku or "deep beyond" of Japan. His poems and recollections of his travels were compiled in journals and published under the title Oku no hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North). This was not his first traveling experience, but the last of five and his most celebrated. Basho found the sights seen and the individuals encountered inspiring to his poetry, evoking deep feelings and poignant sentiments.
Historically, many of Japan's most famous poems were linked to specific places. So intertwined did these places (uta-makura) become with the poems associated with them, that the physicality of the locale was often secondary to the memory of the poem it originally elicited. Basho's travels into the remoteness of Japan were actual, but they were also symbolic of his own spiritual journey. The journals he kept on each of his travels, with significant later amendments, and the poems he composed en route indicate the power of his experiences.
Bashō's writings also captured the imaginations of Japanese who longed to travel and see their country but were unable to do so for various reasons, including the physical difficulties involved, the financial hardships such travel entailed, and the governmental permission required to undertake such a journey, crossing from one territory to the next, each separated by security posts.
Interestingly, the first haiku poem included in Oku no hosomichi makes reference to ningyō, or specifically hina.
| kusa no to mo | Even a thatched hut |
| sumikawam yo zo | May change with a new owner |
| hina no ie | Into a doll's house |
The "thatched hut" refers to Basho's own humble cottage in Edo, planted in front with a banana tree from which he took his sobriquet "Bashō." Leaving his own home for the rigors of the road, life inside the banana hut would undoubtedly change as a new family moved in, perhaps one with daughters who would decorate the interior with hina-ningyō for the third month Hina-matsuri doll festival.
Bashō is something of an unusual subject for mitate gosho and I am unaware of any other example. The mitate gosho of Basho depicted at right has him attired in the clothes of a well-dressed Edoite. His sleeveless jacket is made from a green satin weave with figured dragon roundels. His kimono is a rich plaid with black velvet trim. On his feet are black velvet tabi socks. On his head rests his signature cap made of purple silk. Dangling from the obi tie belt at his waist is a lacquered inro medicine box secured with a round manjū-style netsuke. A fan with lacquered ends is tucked into the front of his kimono, rounding out his accessories. The staff in his right hand is replaced, but evokes the walking stick that would have most assuredly accompanied him on his lengthy journey undertaken largely on foot. His eyes are very highly rounded on the top and flat on the bottom, indicating an early to mid-nineteenth century date of manufacture. He is carved out of solid wood with no flexibility to the arms and legs.
Mitate gosho-ningyō: Matsuo Bashō
Edo period, 19th century
Height 141/2 inches
Ayervais Collection
Mitate gosho-ningyō:
Sumō wrestler pair
Edo period, 19th century
Height 111/2 inches
Ayervais Collection
Mitate Gosho-ningyō: Sumō Wrestler Pair
Two men coming together in close combat to resolve conflicts and establish
