
Miss Kyoto-shi represents the city of Kyoto and is by Okamoto Menya Shojirō, artist name Menshō XII. Her personal name is Kyoto Miyako and her kimono bears the Kyoto shishō (Kyoto City Crest)
Miss Kyoto-shi, along with the five other city dolls and Miss Japan, is of an all-wood construction with articulated joints in a style known as mitsuore, rather than the more soft-jointed construction of classic ichimatsu-ningyô. All seven of these dolls were created in Kyoto through the auspices of the important atelier Maruhei Okiheizō, supplier to the imperial family.
She was originally sent to the Arkansas Museum of Natural History and Antiquities in little Rock, Arkansas in 1928.
During the war years she moved into private hands, before being returned to the museum in 1953. During this time, she had been amateurishly repaired and dressed in a new kimono. She also had lost nearly all of her accessories, except for her fan, parasol and pokkuri lacquered sandals.
In 2011, she returned to Japan for much needed conservation. At this time she was redressed in her original kimono and supplied with a new obi belt woven from the specifications used in the 1927 original.
Today she resides at the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock.