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Miss Yokohama represents the city of Yokohama and is by Okamoto Menya Shojirō, artist name Menshō XII. Her personal name is “Hamako” and her kimono bears the Yokohama shishō (Yokohama City Crest)
Miss Yokohama, 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. Her hand is posed to hold her fan with the thumb and forefinger touching, a signature feature of all seven of these dolls that were created in Kyoto through the auspices of the important atelier Maruhei Okiheizō, supplier to the imperial family.
From the beginning of the project, Miss Yokohama was intended to be placed in San Francisco to help to cement the bonds of friendship between these two port cities linked by history, trade, and deep cultural connections. However, over the course of the doll’s travels, her identity became confused with that of Miss Niigata, and instead of in the Carnegie Library in San Francisco, she was placed in the Denver Public Library in November of 1928.
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.
In 1995 she was transferred to the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys where she remains today. She has a partial trousseau, with the lacquer bearing the kikyo Chinese bellflower crest of Miss Niigata.
It is unclear which doll was ultimately sent to San Francisco as “Miss Yokohama.”