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Comfort Dolls

T

Trehocs

Kouhai
Joined
30 Mar 2021
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Dear Friends.

I discovered few months ago that there are what seems to be some dolls made by children during the war and then given to soldiers with the comfort bags. This are called 慰問人形 or ヘロヘロ人形. Apparently some magazines provided the materials and also the instructions to make this dolls. Have any of you ever heard something about these dolls? I asked Majestic and he confirmed that was the first time he heard about them. As you know, fakes are very usual when talking about these kind of things and would like to get confirmation if these dolls are something that really happened or if it´s something made now to make advantage of the collectors.

Thanks for your help!!!

 
Hello
I just saw your post. I collect 慰問人形 and related items. ヘロヘロ and 文化人形 were types of dolls that were often used as comfort dolls. This is a link to a blog post I wrote some years ago - looks like I never did the follow up post. Oops. Since then I've collected about half a dozen dolls that are definitely imon ningyo - and others that I couldn't be sure about. They will often have the name of the person who made them written on them,.
Ikuko Miyazaki's Dolls (Imon ningyo part1) You won't find information in books on Japanese dolls and the article I cite in the blog post is the only thing that I know that has been specifically published about them in either English or Japanese. I haven't continued with that blog but the contact info is up to date if you want to ask me more about them - in case I forget to come back here!
Jan
 
Thank you for chiming in with this information, those dolls are amazing (and only a little creepy!)
 
Take my sad emoji for the OP to mean bittersweet.

On the one hand I am sure the kids felt good doing their bit for the war. On the other, we have a comic of a kid smiling basically using their playtime to help prepare someone for violence and death.

On the one hand we have soldiers gaining a sense of support and feeling that they are protecting the good children who made the dolls. On the other, there was never any real need for the war or anyone needing protection. But people keep failing to spot the liars that made the wars to satisfy their lust for wealth and power.

The dolls are a very interesting aspect of the war though, and I am glad to know of it.

The industriousness of the people of the past amazes me about as much as the listlessness of the people of the present...especially myself.
 
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