# Doll Maker's Name



## mimaroza

Hello everyone, I am at my wits end here . I know the big letters say "Ichimatsu Doll". But I wonder what the smaller text say. I am guessing this is the artist's name and I have no idea what the red ink means. I really would appreciate it someone could lend a hand.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

The original letters are written vertically in Japanese.
But I write them horizontally here, from left to right.

市松＝Ichimatsu
人形＝Doll

章介＝Shousuke: The name of the creator
作＝made by

章介作＝made by Shousuke

The read mark is the personal seal, which cannot be seen on the photo.

The creator might be　幸介 (Kousuke), but I don't know.

Maybe he is 元賀　章介 (Shousuke Genga). He is a famous creator.
元賀（Genga) is his family name.
章介 is his first name.

I'm not sure if your doll is created by 元賀章介 or not.
Almost all photos of his dolls on the web are written as 元賀章介作, not just 章介作.
I don't know why your doll's creator is shown by only his first name, without the family name.


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## mimaroza

Thank you so much! I apologize for the small picture. Here's a much bigger picture!


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## SoLaTiDoberman

I can assure that it's not 幸介 but 章介 with the bigger photo.

The red-colored personal seal's letters are still invisible.
But they must be the name of the creator, so 章介 must be included in them.
The seal's letters are often written in a picture-like deformation, so it would be difficult to identify the kanji no matter how large you will show the picture.


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## mimaroza

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> I can assure that it's not 幸介 but 章介 with the bigger photo.
> 
> The red-colored personal seal's letters are still invisible.
> But they must be the name of the creator, so 章介 must be included in them.
> The seal's letters are often written in a picture-like deformation, so it would be difficult to identify the kanji no matter how large you will show the picture.



I don't know how to thank you! 

章介 means Shousuke, the creator's name right? 

Its not my doll yet but I intend to buy it. Thanks again.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

You're welcome.

By the way, what I wanted to say is that there is a (big) possibility that the doll is an imitation of Shousuke Genga's work.
The signature of only the first name seemed weird to me.
But who knows?

Anyway, if you like it and if you think the price is reasonable, why not purchase it!


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## mimaroza

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> You're welcome.
> 
> By the way, what I wanted to say is that there is a (big) possibility that the doll is an imitation of Shousuke Genga's work.
> The signature of only the first name seemed weird to me.
> But who knows?
> 
> Anyway, if you like it and if you think the price is reasonable, why not purchase it!



That's exactly what I was thinking. I would have had no problem if the actual maker placed his name there instead. The doll is $65, its definitely on the cheap side and its supposedly 'vintage'  but I would really like to own my first Ichimatsu doll so I'm buying it.

Again thank you so much for you help. It really enlightened my curiosity.


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## mimaroza

I received my doll a few days ago and she looks even more cute and beautiful than in the picture! I'm going to post pictures when I have the time. There's some other writing below the stand too that I'm curious about.


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## frequency

Good. Come back to this thread anytime.


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## mimaroza

Hello again! 

So I was scouring around the internet and found a doll with a stand/base that looked familiar. Underneath the base is exactly the characters written in my doll even the red ink.





I wonder what it says. When I tried a translate app it read "Moto Kosaka works" and "Motoga Shinsuke". I am guessing this is the maker's name? I would also appreciate if anyone is familiar with the maker and share their knowledge.


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## frequency

It reads Genga Shousuke (Shōsuke) again. According to Doberman, it seems to be a famous doll creator. So if the doll was really made by Mr Genga, the name in your #10 should be Genga Shōsuke. However,


SoLaTiDoberman said:


> The signature of only the first name seemed weird to me.


Yes. The problem is that if he writes 元 like that way or not.
Regarding the red stamp, I think it's just his name stamp, and we very commonly use it in China and Japan.


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## mimaroza

Thank you, frequency. I was just curious and hyped.


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## mimaroza

So I discovered a Japanese surplus warehouse not far from my place. Lo and behold they have among other things some ichi dolls! They were sold so cheap I had to get another one and bought a larger 18-inch doll.






The tag however had so many characters I need help with what is being written here. The Japanese man who owns the depot wasn't there and the clerks don't speak Japanese so I need your help again.






I hope to hear from anyone. Have a nice day and Merry Christmas!


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## Flaminius

1. 金彩京友禅
2. 市松人形
3. 頭原作　熊倉聖祥
4. 人形師　香寿作

Ls 1 and 2 means that this is an _ichimatsu_ doll (2) dressed in _kinsai kyōyūzen_ (1; _kyōyūzen_ with gold threads?).  L 3 declares that it was Sēshō Kumakura (熊倉聖祥) who created the design of the doll's head.  It was perhaps modified by the doll maker when they created this doll (4; name 香寿作, pronunciation uncertain).

Wishing you merry Christmas and a happy New Year!


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## mimaroza

@Flaminius Thank you so much! Knowing who made the doll means so much to me. I will search for Sesho Kumakura and see his other works. I wonder what the #4 香寿作 means?

Thanks again.


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## Flaminius

This is the name of 人形師 (= doll maker).  But 香寿作 does not render itself to reading and I am not sure if they are a woman or man.  作 is a traditional men’s name suffix but it can also mean in the context “made by” the two artisans.  If this is the case, the doll maker is 香寿.  Then, I still cannot pronounce the name but the name looks like that of a woman.


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## mimaroza

@Flaminius I found someone on Reddit post here. Apparently the poster's doll was made by the same people. The first reply says 人形師 香寿作 means, 'Ningyou-shi Kouju Saku = Doll maker Kouju'.


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