Art of Japanese doll crafting coming to Sighnaghi Museum in Georgia’s east

Starting this weekend, the Sighnaghi Museum in Georgia’s winemaking Kakheti province will invite visitors to see handmade Japanese dolls representing ancient customs from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Presented in cities including St. Petersburg in Russia, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Dublin in Ireland, the exhibition will now introduce viewers in Georgia to the mastery and heritage of doll-makers from Japan.

With around 70 works included in the selection, visitors of the museum will see examples such as girls' and boys’ festival dolls, known as Hina Ningyo and Gogatsu Ningyo respectively.

Hina Ningyo dolls ‘Ishogi’, ‘Shinno-Kazari’. Photo: Embassy of Japan to Georgia.

Figurines from theatre design such as No, Bunraku and Kabuki will also be on display at the Sighnaghi venue.

Other exhibits will include dolls by modern artists from across Japan, known as Hatsu Sekku.

They have been produced or restored since 2000, and included in the display titled The Dolls of Japan: Shapes of Prayer, Embodiments of Love.

A Oyama Ningyo doll ‘Fuji musume’. Photo: Embassy of Japan to Georgia.

Established in 1947, the Sighnaghi Museum of History and Ethnography has hosted around 200,000 visitors from around the world during the decade since its renovation in 2007.

Visitors of the venue are offered to view collections themed on archaeology, ethnography and the history of the Middle Ages, with tens of thousands of exhibits.

The show of Japanese traditional dolls will run at the museum between April 21-May 31.