A walk in the park where Japanese cherries grow. With a Kokeshi doll.
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Kokeshi doll is a traditional wooden Japanese doll with a distinctive appearance - without limbs. It is handmade from various types of wood, depending on which is available in the region. These include Japanese hornbeam, Acer rufinerve, Manchurian maple, Cornus controversa, Japanese camellia and Zelkova serrata. The wood needed to make dolls is dried after cutting down. This can be done in two ways, or remove the bark from the wood and leave it for several months to dry itself, or dry it raw using special dryers. Then craftsman carves wood, giving the doll the right shapes, and in the last stage the craftsman creating the doll paints it by hand.
I bought my Kokeshi during a visit to Japan and and decided to go with her to the park where Japanese cherries grow. Sakura can be found in Mokotów Field in Warsaw, in its western part. Every year new trees imported from Japan are planted there.
It is believed that Kokeshi dolls could symbolize the wish of health for the child. There is a lot of childish energy in them. I liked these little figurines the most. They look sweet and friendly, and at the same time feel power and strength from them. Maybe because of the hairstyle - powerful, black, helmet-like.
Kokeshi dolls were created in the middle of the Edo period (1600-1868). They were sold to tourists who visited hot springs in northeastern Japan. Gradually, dolls began to be created also in other spas in the Tohoku region, and then throughout the country. My doll is small, it's a key ring, but being in Japan I saw bigger Kokeshi dolls. They are a great decoration, and in the past it is supposed to have been used for massage. Their shape indicates this - an elongated body and a rounded head. I associate Japanese dolls with Russian Matryoshka, which I used to play in my childhood.
As for the park and flowers, this cherry with white, dense, downy flowers made a great impression on me. I have not seen such before. They would look wonderful in a wedding bouquet or as a wedding wreath.
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