Vintage Hakata Japanese Pottery Earthen Ware Clay Doll Man Sitting

The origin of the doll travels back in time to the 17th Century when workers building the castle for Hakata ruler, Kuroda Magamasa, began to make the doll figures from leftover clay they were using for the roof. He noticed them creating the dolls and he liked them. He had them create more for the castle. Throughout his reign, the people would give him the dolls as gifts. They were also given as gifts of offering to the Buddhist temple.

It is told that a doll maker by the last name Sohichi had secrets to the creation of these dolls and passed them down from generation to generation until the last Sohichi died in 1858 without passing the information on and creation of the dolls stopped.