Japanese Dolls with Kenji Kanabayashi Ep.1 | 300 Years of Kimekomi, from Kamigamo Shrine to Edo

How did a hobby at one of Kyoto's oldest shrines become Tokyo's Edo Kimekomi doll craft? Kimekomi dolls are said to have begun at Kamigamo Shrine in the Genbun era (1736–1741), when someone in service at the shrine carved small figures in his spare hours. The technique travelled to Edo, where craftsmen turned it into a method of carving grooves into a body of tōso (paulownia sawdust and wheat-starch paste) and tucking fabric into them. Kenji Kanabayashi, the third-generation Mataro, traces this three-hundred-year lineage, from the Heian-era roots of Japanese dolls and hina dolls to the workshop the first Mataro founded in 1919. ▶ Ep.2 | The Third Mataro and the Doll Shop He Once Doubted →    • Japanese Dolls with Kenji Kanabayashi Ep.2...   ▶ Ep.3 | Making Your Own Kimekomi Doll in Tokyo →    • Japanese Dolls with Kenji Kanabayashi Ep.3...   🎬 See the full series →    • Kenji Kanabayashi | Edo Kimekomi Dolls, a ...   🎬 Exclusive | Behind the Scenes → https://bespoke-discovery.com/yt/kenj... 📖 Read the Interview → https://bespoke-discovery.com/yt/kenj... Experience Kimekomi doll-making with a master craftsman in Tokyo. ✨ Explore private cultural experiences → https://bespoke-discovery.com/yt/kenj... ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ About Bespoke Discovery ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Bespoke Discovery invites you into the hidden world of Japan's most extraordinary artisans, traditions, and cultural experiences — rarely seen, never forgotten. 🌐 www.bespoke-discovery.com 📍 Based in Japan | Serving discerning travelers worldwide #Kimekomi #JapaneseDolls #HinaDolls #EdoKimekomi #KamigamoShrine #JapaneseCraft #TraditionalCraft #Tokyo #HiddenJapan #BespokeDiscovery