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Miss Miyazaki is by Ozawa Shinsaku, whose artist name was Horyūsai. Her personal name is Hyoga Tamako and her kimono bears the kikubishi (diamond-shaped chrysanthemum) crest.
For many years, Miss Miyazaki was missing. Though records suggested that she had been placed in the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, no trace of her could be found.
Then, unexpectedly, in 2012, she resurfaced in Minneapolis at the Hennepin County Library, along with nearly all of her accessories. Her discovery was quite accidental. Librarian Margaret Snow had recently read Kirby Larson’s children’s book, The Friendship Doll, which contains a brief synopsis of the history of the Friendship Dolls and indicates that 13 of the dolls were at that time still missing.
On impulse, Snow entered the name Miss Miyazaki into the database at the library and got an immediate “hit.” The library had recently conducted an inventory of all non-book holdings and had dutifully catalogued a large Japanese doll with a display base reading “Miss Miyazaki.”
Through inspection of the Tokyo Whole Doll Traders’ Association label on her back she was easily identified as one of the original Friendship Dolls, and subsequent inquiry revealed that all of her accessories had been on long-term display in the children’s room and listed as “Japanese toys.” She had been a resident of the Hennepin County Library since at least June of 1931.
Through archival images, it has been determined that this doll is the original Miss Tokushima, paired with the Miss Miyazaki base.
Miss Miyazaki was soon returned to Japan for much needed conservation and was subsequently relocated to the Minnesota Historical Society in St Paul, Minnesota where she remains today.