October Tokyo Kokeshi Friends Meeting 10月東京こけし友の会

In October Naoko, the girls and I headed to Sugamo 巣鴨 in downtown Tokyo for the monthly Kokeshi Friends 東京こけし友の会 meeting. It is usually held in Kanda, so this was a treat.

Entering the main shopping street in Sugamo. Foot traffic only.

Hey, three giant Tsuchiyu kokeshis! There was a traditional kokeshi exhibit in this shop, but we couldn't stop to see it since it was getting close to the meeting time.

October's kokeshi was this beautiful Nambu style 南部系こけし one by Mr. Matsuda Hiroji 松田弘次さん of Morioka City in Iwate Prefecture 岩手県. I prefer painted kokeshis, but it's hard not to admire the craftsmanship of this piece. It's also nice to get a Nambu -- they're quite rare these days.

Our fellow members trickled in before the meeting and spent time examining the auction and raffle kokeshis that you'll see in the photos below.

There were also a few old books available in the raffle.

The meeting begins -- a full house.

There was a presentation on the Sato family of Iwaki City in Fukushima. As you may recall from my blog posts back in 2011 that they had to evacuate to Gunma Prefecture where we visited them a couple of times. 

A slide of the Satos in front of their temporary home in Gunma.

The raffle finally began -- that's Naoko and Lena picking out some nice new kokeshis for our collection that you'll see below.

Oh yes, there were also some new books and magazines available as well.

After the meeting we walked around Sugamo for a bit. It's a fun shopping street that I definitely recommend for a visit. There might not be any kokeshis there (though you could always bring your own), but it's well worth the trip. Here are a few photos so you can see what it's like there.

The "Red Underwear" 赤パンツ shop.

An umbrella shop.

Sugamo's mascot character "Sugamon."

One of our new kokeshis enjoying Sugamo. Wow, what a face!

Another one of our new kokeshis.

And so another kokeshi adventure comes to a close.