Kokeshi Craftsman Seiji Yoshino's Studio Tour

In his atelier located in Saitama prefecture, Seiji Yoshino is one of two kokeshi craftsmen that create "Hijiori" style kokeshi from the Shusuke Sato lineage. He started as a fan and collector of kokeshi, and after becoming close with Shoichi Sato, he started training as an apprentice with him in 1988.

Along with the traditional Shunsuke Sato lineage kokeshi, Yoshino makes his own original kokeshi with large eyes, vibrant colors, and motifs of flowers, and tigers (he was born in The Year of the Tiger).

He gave us a demonstration of how he makes the body of his kokeshi from a block of wood, starting with the shaping of the base.

Then, the kokeshi's body is spun on this machine while he uses the rotation to carefully guide the ink onto the surface.

The tiger motif is gently painted by hand.

And it's done!

We also put a video up on our YouTube channel here:

You can learn more about Seiji Yoshino, as well as tons of other kokeshi craftsmen through Manami Okazaki's new book "Japanese Kokeshi Dolls: The Woodcraft and Culture of Japan's Iconic Wooden Dolls".

https://www.amazon.com/Manami-Okazaki/e/B004K2Y3ZW?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000