Set of 2 dolls--Tachibina Couple Dolls are affixed to salmon colored card with gold flecks (smaller one is loose). Tallest doll wears gold and tan brocade hakama and orange and gold brocade kimono, shortest doll wears wrap around gold and orange brocade kimono fastened with a gold and green obi, has 4 layers of eri (collars) red, white, orange. Heads are of painted wood with short black cropped hair, smaller one has two hair braids extending down on both sides, white painted faces with black eyes and two dark spots on forehead, red painted lips. Stored in lidded cardboard box. Tachibina or standing dolls are thought to be the ancestors of the Dairibina or Imperial Couple or figures for ancestor worship or the personification of the male and female principle. Upright dolls that cannot stand without support... (see The Image and the Motif: Japanese Dolls by Lea Baten, p. 51.

1996.010.045