Miss Iwate

Miss Iwate is by Iwamura Shōkensai. Her personal name is Iwate Suzuko and her kimono crest is the yaezakura (double cherry blossom).

After travelling in the northeast for several months during the spring, Miss Iwate was officially received in Birmingham, Alabama in July of 1928 where she was placed in the Birmingham Public Library where she remains today.

Miss Iwate retains nearly all of her accessories, missing only her ship ticket and passport. Interestingly she retains the original wooden storage boxes for the lacquered accessories bearing the maker’s label of “Y. Tanaka Lacquer Ware Maker.”

Through archival photographs she has been determined to be the original Miss Ōita.