A puzzle, a puppet, a wooden block, "toy books," and more...
These items, most of which include dolls or pictures of dolls, give a few peeps at the way Japanese culture was presented to children. Sewing for Dolly and bathing her while the Japanese doll looks on, planning a tea-party, or worrying about how the heathens are so up-to-date, children were urged to remember, if not always accurately, what the Japanese were like.
Click small image for full item (often several views).
Common hand puppet with boy doll head.
To see another puppet with his box, check the 2004 page.
Similar toys were called the Moyana hand puppet.
The head, with its black markings and green felt "shave" holding the hair on, seems typical of some very early Japanese dolls in America, for example the one depicted in the 1880 poem "Wingy Wing Foo."
Puzzle set, 1910?, Dutch
A set of 4 Jigsaw puzzles of a little girl caring for her dolls, 2 of which feature a good-sized Japanese doll.
Thanks to Yonna Cohen for the images of this beautiful set.
Three small Japanese dolls with chairs and table.
Lid of box has British and Japanese flags on it, with picture of set. This suggests it was marketed as part of the British-Japan exposition of 1910.
Looks suspiciously as if made in China to imitate Japanese wares. The cherry blossoms are nice but the thatched garden house does not look very Japanese (to say nothing of the chairs, and even the dolls, which are pretty crude).
ca. 1910
Here the same type of doll as in the Japs' Tea Party is threaded onto a diecut heavy cardboard card with a verse. The whole item has its own little cardboard box. It's an interesting example of the association of Japanese dolls and romance.
Toy (alphabet block), , US
IJ Japanese litho on block shows "Geisha" with doll, and on side: "This Japanese Maiden from... Plays dolls wi...." . Other side has W-Winnebago with Indian and baby.
Baby's Friends
Cloth book, Saalfield Pub. Co, 1904
This "toy book" invites Baby to consider as friends children from all over the world. Japanese dolls figure in the illustration of the Chinese child, oddly enough.
"G. Spargnapane Co. Japanese Crackers"
This is a box of paper-wrapped party favors. The illustration
on the lid shows an interest in Japanese artifacts (for example, the doll
shown is not the common ichimatsu type but more like the male figure of
the tachibina pair). The crackers themselves contain small dolls, so the
box's portrayal of dolls is appropriate. It is possible that the Japanese
motif was used to create a non-Christian holiday party toy.
ca. 1920?
This large item (12" tall not including the legs) is a patented moving cardboard doll. Since Japanese dolls don't have much to do with nursery rhymes, one may suppose the artist got fanciful.
1933, US
Homemade calendar with 3 small Japanese dolls and a tiny calendar glued onto a picture of a gate. (note: these dolls are definitely Japanese, as opposed to the one in the Tea Party above). Above them, the text reads:
Three little HeathenThis is very much the sentiment Palmer Cox's Brownies expressed about Japan on their visit in 1894.
Sitting on a Gate;
Tho' they're only heathen,
they're always up to date.
Toy (cutouts), 1939, Paine Publ., Dayton, Ohio
Cutout and assemble cardboard village includes scene of hina matsuri (though with ichimatsu), doll on girl's back, and baby on mother's, etc., also carp flying from pole. Note date.
