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Miss Osaka-fu represents the prefecture surrounding the city of Osaka. She is by the artist Hirata Gōyō II. Her personal name is unknown, but her kimono crest is the agehacho (butterfly).
Hirata Gōyō II is considered to be Japan’s greatest doll artist. While his participation in the Friendship Doll exchange was limited to only five dolls--Miss Kyoto-fu, Miss Aichi, Miss Shizuoka, Miss Wakayama and, of course, Miss Osaka-fu--each of these dolls were considered the pinnacle of Japanese doll art at that time. For his life accomplishments as a doll artist Gōyō was later designated as a Ningen Kokuhō (Living National Treasure) in 1955, the first doll maker to ever earn that singularly high distinction.
Miss Osaka-fu was placed at the Ohio State Museum in Columbus, Ohio in the summer of 1928. She returned to Japan in 1988 to participate in the important exhibition of Japanese Friendship Dolls and the American Doll Messengers of Goodwill. This event saw the gathering together of 19 of the Friendship Dolls and 34 of the “blue-eyed” dolls so treasured in Japan today.
Miss Osaka-fu retains a nearly complete set of accessories, though not all bearing the same crest. She is missing only her passport, ship ticket and US-made travel trunk. Interestingly, among her accessories are several lacquered pieces that were designed for Miss Osaka-shi, representing the city of Osaka. The six city dolls were not only structurally different from the prefectural dolls, they were given unique display bases as well as unusual lacquered accessories with the city crests in gold on a black lacquer ground. Few of the City Doll accessories remain today.
From early correspondence we know that there was an initial confusion between the doll known as Miss Osaka-shi and Miss Osaka-fu. Part of the problem is that the original Tokyo-style display base for Miss Osaka-fu bears a nameplate reading only “Miss Osaka.”
Miss Osaka-fu now resides in the Ohio History Connection in Columbus.