Miss Yamagata

Miss Yamagata is by the artist Ryūjū. Her personal name is Yamgata Chitose and her kimono crest is the tsuta (ivy).

She was placed in the Maine State Museum in Augusta in January of 1929. It was some months later, however, before her accessories were forwarded to Maine from California where they had been included in the International Sunday School Convention in Los Angeles during July of 1928. This partially explains the mixed nature of the lacquered furnishings she retains, none of which were originally designed for her.

Interestingly, Miss Yamagata was one of the first dolls to be rehabilitated after the war. Following a number of years in storage, she was placed on display in the Children’s Room of the Public Library in Portland, Maine in April of 1947. 

A local newspaper covering her reappearance made this trenchant comment: “She understands that while she was in storage fading, we were at war forgetting and undoing all that was done by [the Friendship Dolls of 1927].” But the article closes on this hopeful note: “If you should have time to return the tolerant gaze of our Friendship Doll…you may wonder if these tokens of understanding between the little peoples of two nations have really been completely forgotten.”

Currently, Miss Yamagata is again at the Maine State Museum but wearing a replacement kimono in order to better protect her original kimono from further fading. Her accessories are incomplete and the lacquer pieces she does retain bear the umebachi (plum) crest designed for Miss Hiroshima and the botan (peony) crest used for the colonial dolls and as sample traveling sets.

Through archival images, she has been identified as the original Miss Okinawa.