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Miss Nagoya represents the city of Nagoya and is by Okamoto Menya Shojirō, artist name Menshō XII. Her kimono bears the Nagoya shishō (Nagoya City Crest).
Miss Nagoya, 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 Okiheizõ, supplier to the imperial family.
She was originally sent to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia in May of 1928 under the general auspices of the Atlanta Art Association. In 1937 she was placed on long-term display at the Carnegie Library in downtown Atlanta. Following the war, she was relocated to the short-lived Children’s Museum at Fernbank. In 1953 she was returned to the High Museum, but by this time her condition was much deteriorated, and her furnishings and display base were missing.
In 1985 Miss Nagoya returned to Japan, along with Miss Kyoto-fu, for an exhibition entitled: Women and the War, sponsored by the Chunichi Shinbun newspaper. As part of this loan she underwent conservation by the noted Kyoto doll maker Itoh Hisashige XII. She was also outfitted with an antique kimono in order to prevent further fading to her original kimono.
In 1988 she returned again to Japan to participate in the important 19 Friendship Doll Exhibition organized by the Kokusai Bunka Kyōkai (Japanese International Culture Association) in Tokyo.
Since 1999 she has made her home at the Atlanta History Center, where she is much beloved.