Tokyo has its fair share of antique markets, many of which offer an interesting look into Japan’s past — both of the fairly recent variety, and much further back. But they can also offer you a look at something you’d rather not have seen, either in the past, or the present.
Lizzy says
That is beyond disturbing. I’ve got goosebumps.
Lee says
Not very nice, is it? Perhaps the only thing more disturbing than the doll is imagining the kind of mind that made it!
Lizzy says
Yes! Exactly….
willy says
… at an incredibly disturbing price…
Lee says
Yes. Sleepless nights clearly don’t come cheap…
willy says
he he.. !
ex-expat says
And the asking price is $1,300 ??????!!!!!!!!!
Lee says
It is. But at the same time you will, without any shadow of doubt, be getting a unique piece of art!
Martin B says
That’s even more creepy than the scarecrow mannequins.
Lee says
I thought that, but the other day I photographed a mannequin that may even out-disturb this.
Brace yourself!
Martin B says
I’m getting a bit worried now, in a morbidly curious sort of way.
Lee says
Haha, it’s not that bad! It is though a new twist on my other mannequin shots…
Hans ter Horst says
As a youngster I read the Gothic novel Burn, Witch, Burn! and it gave me nightmares, this is what i imagined the the puppets of Madame Mandilip looked like! (Great shot!)
Lee says
Cheers!
Looking at the cover, I’m not surprised it did. Even less if this reminds you of the puppets!
LAObserver says
The reminds me of A Clockwork Orange.
Lee says
Interesting. Hadn’t thought of that.
Squidpuppy says
Actually, and it’s just me, I know, but that get up puts it into a familiar context – of horror movies. I find the natural state of porcelain dolls far creepier; in Victorian children’s clothing. Just sitting there looking at you with those glass eyes. From a chair in the corner of the room. And then, of course, it blinks.
Lee says
Believe me, it isn’t just you. For some reason I find most dolls unsettling, but in particular old, more traditional ones. Finding them in abandoned buildings is always both fascinating and horribly unpleasant…
Squidpuppy says
Kokeshi really creep me out. Then when I learned of one theoretical root source for them, it made it way worse! In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a theory that kokeshi represent dead, or poverty-based murdered children. Their limblessness is a representation of swaddled infants. Ugh.
Lee says
Yeah, it’s not a nice image to say the least, is it?
In one of Alan Booth’s books, he mentioned giving his parents a pair of kokeshi dolls. A couple who had spiritual leanings of some description or other – I don’t remember what exactly. But they wouldn’t display them and kept them sealed in a box at the bottom of a cupboard cos the dolls made them feel so uneasy. And if I remember rightly, they were utterly oblivious to any such dark meaning of the dolls too.
Bernadette Marchetti says
My first boyfriend was an Art major at Carnegie Mellon University (it’s one of the best schools for Fine Arts in the US). This piece reminds me a LOT of what the inscrutable minds of the students produced there. Keep in mind that CMU is also one of the best schools for Computer Science and is one of the leading research institutions in Artificial Intelligence and Human Computer Interaction. It was not uncommon to see women showing up to class in dresses made entirely from black electrical tape. And I do mean *entirely*. That school is the quintessential playground for freaks and geeks. But it was always interesting!
Lee says
Wow, that sounds quite a place. Just hope that any kind of Artificial Intelligence breakthroughs aren’t granted to monstrosities like the doll above!
winnie says
I will going to have nightmare…
Although the doll looked creepy and disturbing, i feel a bit sad for “him”. It seem like he was tortured.
I am sorry that I might be weird for saying this. He contain the elements of sado-masochism to me.
Lee says
No, not at all. Definitely elements of that I’d say.