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Miss Kumamoto is by Hayashi Shigematsu whose artist name was Ryūju.
She was placed in the State Museum of New Orleans, Louisiana in July of 1928.
Unfortunately, Miss Kumamoto is among our missing dolls. And while the museum retains her original acquisition records and display base, nothing else has been located. An internal memo from June 12, 1942 indicates that she had until recently been on display, but had been removed to make way for an exhibition of 70 historic, character and costume dolls. Without the benefit of photographs, however, it is impossible to know which doll was actually sent to New Orleans.
The only extant photograph of Miss Kumamoto taken in Japan was published in Kyūshū Shimbun newspaper in Kumamoto on September 29, 1927. Though showing her surrounded by her accessories and playfully positioned with her open parasol resting on her right shoulder, the quality of the image is so poor that it is impossible to read details of her kimono or the crests on her lacquered accessories.