KOYAMA, Yoshimi 小山芳美 | Togatta style 遠刈田系


I think the traditional kokeshi has a simplified style and no wasted beauty. Those are painted with less colors but look gorgeous.

KOYAMA Yoshimi 小山芳美 was born in Niigata prefecture, which is the neighboring region of the Tohoku in 1981. (Tohoku is the kokeshi crafting area.)

She was a kokeshi collector while working at a company. She said that she traveled hot spring areas, bought kokeshi dolls and visited kokeshi craftsmen sometimes.

In those times, she found the development training program of kokeshi craftspeople in Togatta of Zao city, and her friend suggested making kokeshi by herself. Thus, she decided to join the program in 2016, after that she became an apprentice of HIRAMA, Katsuji (1941-) in 2018. Since 2019, she started making kokeshi dolls with her signature.

 

伝統こけしは、無駄なものがなくて簡略的な美しさがあると思います。色数がなくても華やかなのが伝統こけしで、こけしの形に添って図柄があって、洗練されている、というのが私の中の伝統こけしです。

1981年 新潟出身
こけしコレクションをしながら、こけし工人の元へ訪問などを行う
2016年 蔵王町遠刈田系伝統こけし新規工人育成事業へ採用される
2018年 平間勝治工人に師事
2019年より工人としてこけし製作を開始

 

We interviewed some her about how she started and learned her craft.
We hope you will enjoy it.
小山芳美工人へのインタビューを掲載しています。どうぞお楽しみください。

https://shincrafts.com/blogs/kokeshi-dolls/kokeshi-craftsmen-interview-yoshimikoyama