May we use Meta and Google cookies to learn which films and pieces people like? Details
A basket on a dog's head is a pun, and the pun is a wish.
3 pieces on the shelf ↓A white papier-mache puppy, given when a child is born and carried to the shrine at the first visit.
Dogs were said to whelp easily and to raise their young without fuss, so the toy stands for an easy birth and a child who grows without trouble.
Why does this dog have a basket on its head? It's a pun, and the pun is a wish. In Japan, a dog means an easy birth: dogs whelp easily, many pups at a time. So on the Day of the Dog, five months in, expectant mothers still go to the shrine to pray. Noble families kept a pair of dog-shaped boxes to guard the room where a baby would be born, and brides carried them in their trousseau. In Edo, the charm reached ordinary families as a toy: this white puppy, kept in the baby's room and carried to its first shrine visit. And the basket? The usual explanation: write bamboo above dog, and you get the character for laughter. If you'd like one of your own, Maison Homura will go and look for it. An easy start, and a life full of laughter.
1990s Nagoya Hariko DogVintage · Made in Japan · Papier-mâché (hariko) · Nagoya, 1990s · 18 cm$110 · Free shipping to 32 countries
Asakusa Sukeroku Hariko DogVintage · Made in Japan · Papier-mâché (hariko) · Asakusa Sukeroku · 10 cm$95 · Free shipping to 32 countries
Edo Inu Hariko Zaru Kaburi DogVintage · Made in Japan · Papier-mâché (hariko) · bamboo basket hat · 9 cm$90 · Free shipping to 32 countriesThese are the pieces we have in Fukuoka today. After something else? Tell us here.
5.0 · Star Seller on Etsy ↗Pick a budget and who it is for — that is enough. We write back with photographs, condition and a price.
Sent. We will write back to that address.
That did not go through. Try again in a moment.
A form shaped like a sitting puppy, low and round.
Layers of washi, then dried in the sun.
Split off the form and closed again.
White ground, red ears, and a bamboo-and-basket mark for a healthy child.
A small bamboo colander is usually set on its head. The usual explanation is a pun: the bamboo radical written above the character for dog gives the character for laughter — a wish for a life with a good deal of it. The holes in the basket are also said to let the child see through anything false.
Almost every one is white, because white is what you give at a beginning.
City work, not village work. Edo papier-mâché was made in the back streets for people who lived in rented rooms and had no space for anything large.
Hello! Ask us anything: a piece, a size, shipping, or something you are looking for. Photos are welcome too.