Réka Tóth-Vásárhelyi

She graduated from Széchenyi István Secondary Grammar School in 1993 and obtained her degree in Primary and Pre-School Education from Eötvös Loránd University in 2000.

In 2001, she completed her studies at Eszterházy Károly Teacher Training College in Eger, Hungary, specializing in Visual Education with a research focus on Japanese art methodology.

She was on maternity leave with her first child in 2009 when a sudden idea gave birth to her book “A Csodálatos Fababa Meséje” (The Story of the Miraculous Wooden Doll).

In this book, written in both Japanese and Hungarian, she tells the story of Sakura, the Kokeshi doll and the adventures leading her to the imperial family.

[4] Her dolls are smaller in size than the usual ones in Japan, where they are up to one meter high, since in Hungary there is no suitable wood material to make them.

The dolls, turned and carved from wood, embody the Japanese ideal of feminine beauty with their clean shapes: neat black hair, a charming, gentle white face and a body dressed in closed, decorated kimonos.

In terms of shape, there are smaller and larger figures of girls, cylindrical and spherical, samurai, monks and many others with features specific to the region from where the kokeshi originates.

[7] Besides being an aesthetic ornament, in Japanese culture the kokeshi has a much deeper meaning and function: it has also been used as a children's toy, a souvenir, a talisman with healing powers.

It is therefore an integral part of the traditions and beliefs of the Japanese people[2] and, with these in mind, the symbols permeate their entire artistic activity.

Its aim is to open people's hearts to the love and respect of the natural, simple, volatile and imperfect gifts of life.

The other theme is the fate of women, in connection with which her intention is to portray charm and also to show the true face of the soul, with all the pain it has brought and collected.

She wishes to bring the cultures of the two countries even closer together through Kokeshi dolls, and "to open people's hearts through her creations to the love and respect for the natural, simple, fleeting and imperfect gifts of life.

In addition to the kokeshi doll, the piece, made of hornbeam, beech and ashwood, includes a wardrobe with 17 meticulously crafted accessories such as kimonos, hats, umbrellas, lanterns and fans.

She was welcomed and allowed closer to their professional knowledge and workshops techniques, which, according to Jennifer McDowell, an American kokeshi sociologist, as a woman, as a foreigner in a massively constructed masculine system, "can be seen as breaking through an anthropological wall.

[11] Japanese masters began to trust her, and after the award, she was invited to Shibukawa for the Creative Kokeshi Exhibition, where she met Aoki Ryoka (青木蓼華), the first Japanese female creative master kokeshi maker to be awarded the Imperial Medal of Merit, who took her on and invited her to her workshop.

In 2019, as a commemorative gift for the 150th anniversary of Hungarian-Japanese diplomatic relations, the Hungarian Embassy in Tokyo commissioned the production of 30 pairs of wooden dolls to symbolize the relationship between the two countries.

In 2018, they collaborated with Beatrix White to release a joint collection of charming Kokeshi dolls on cool urban suits.

Hair downpour
Dress-up Kokeshi - With a Wardrobe
The Tale of Urashima Tarō
Kokeshi dolls made for the 150th anniversary of Japanese-Hungarian diplomatic relations
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