[1] Traditionally, hōko dolls were made of silk and human hair,[2] and stuffed with cotton.
Hōko can be traced back to "talismanic figures" from early Japanese history,[1] and are likely related to the concept of using paper dolls (hina), as "stand-ins for people.
"substitutes") in spiritual practice as stand-ins to take on the brunt of a person's sins or misfortune also played a role in the creation of hōko dolls[5] as well as for absentee family members (i.e. mother dolls for orphaned children).
Sources mentioning the specific term hōko start appearing in the Heian period, but are more apparent in the Muromachi period of Japan's history;[6] in the Muromachi era (1333-1568), these figures were kept by a child's bedside to ward off evil.
The hoko consisted of white silk stuffed with cotton and was presented to a child on his/her birth, often as an ubuyashinai (gift to a baby on the 3rd, 5th, and 9th nights).