Alan Scott Pate Antique Japanese Dolls

05/13/2026

MISS YAMAGUCHI—SANTA FE

The work progresses slowly, but surely on Miss Yamaguchi. We should finish bodywork by the end of tomorrow and then we’ll redress her on Thursday.

Dinner with friends John & Kumiko Ruddy who own an amazing Asian textile gallery here in Santa Fe and have been dear friends since the mid 90s.

And Aoki-san has his best bison burger yet! 

05/12/2026

FRIENDSHIP DOLL ROAD TRIP—DENVER TO SANTA FE

(MEETING MISS YAMAGUCHI)

The six-hour drive from Denver to Santa Fe turned into something closer to 10 hours as we decided to cut up through the mountains and visit some of the small towns, such as Leadville and Buena Vista.

Historical fun fact, I was a horse wrangler at a ranch in Buena Vista, Colorado back in 1982 and we did a quick drop in to show Aoki-san What are Colorado Dude Ranch looks like! 

From there, it was straight south into New Mexico and down through the beautiful landscape to Santa Fe.

Today was our first day of treatment of Miss Yamaguchi, who is housed at the international folk art museum in Santa Fe.

This is one of the few dolls that Aoki-san I had never met in person, and he was quite excited.

She has not traveled back to Japan for conservation, and so there were a few things that need to be tended to, and Aoki-san got right into it.

The museum is documenting the entire process through both Video and professional photography, and they intend to create a small documentary video about her conservation. This will prove to be a great record!

Her conservation will be a multiple-day process, so I’ll share images as we move along.






05/10/2026

ANOTHER FRIENDSHIP DOLL ROAD TRIP!

Our beloved Aoki-san is back from Japan for another epic road trip!

We are working hard to carry out some much needed conservation on some of the Friendship Dolls in anticipation of next year’s 100 Year Anniversary celebration at the Barry Art Museum.

Along the way, I’ll be doing supplemental photography for the exhibition catalog.

So where to this time?

We have targeted 3 dolls with a few additional add-ons.

The core group consists of:

Miss Yamaguchi in Santa Fe
Miss Yamanashi in Cheyenne
and Miss Nara in Boise

But while we are “in the area,” we will also be working with Miss Tottori from Fargo, Miss Yokohama (photography only) in Denver and the original Miss Shimane in a local private collection.

I rendezvous-ed with Aoki-san at the Denver airport this evening. He flew in from Tokyo, while I drove in from Georgia.

Tomorrow we head up into the mountains on our way to our first stop: Santa Fe.

Stay tuned over the next three weeks for this latest edition of the Japanese Friendship Doll Road Show!

04/11/2026

UFDC ZOOM PRESENTATION

Please join me this Tuesday, April 14th at 7pm Central for a Zoom presentation on Japanese contemporary ningyo makers., sponsored by the UFDC.

We’ll explore a few different current masters of the form and their lineages, from ichimatsu, to Hakata, to Gosho, to art puppets that defy genres.

Topic: Ningyo in the New Age: Contemporary Japanese Doll Makers by Alan Scott Pate
Time: Apr 14, 2026 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87558220392?pwd=tc2aOdTG8ykem4E2oAkm4evPYupj49.1

View meeting insights with Zoom AI Companion
https://us02web.zoom.us/launch/edl?muid=1a2e230f-75c3-4ecd-a9d6-ba6bbb051c1a

Meeting ID: 875 5822 0392
Passcode: 270953

04/04/2026

03/17/2026

JAPAN DOLL TOUR DAY 13: LAST DAY!

With so many amazing ningyo purchased yesterday, our final day was spent in the blissful tranquility of the temple complexes of Mt Hiei to the northeast of Kyoto.

Our guide was Dr Catherine Ludvik, a friend for some 25 years and a specialist in esoteric Buddhist studies based in Kyoto.

The day was spectacularly beautiful, and Catherine led us to the three principal hubs that form the massive temple complex of Mt Hiei.

Aside from learning about its fascinating history, we were simply enveloped in the peace of the mountain retreat. Few people there just us and the woods and the temples. 

Our final banquet was this evening, a fun way to cap off 13 days of fantastic camaraderie and the shared love of ningyo.

He also had to say goodbye to our favorite guide, Mineko-san, who let us on an amazing journey. Her constant care and attention to every detail was so appreciated!o

Thank you to everyone who came on this tour, it was truly a special event!

I look forward to seeing everyone again on our next tour, scheduled for April 2028! 

03/16/2026

JAPAN DOLL TOUR DAY 12: NINGYO SHOPPING SPREE

Today had one goal: buy ningyo! And the group did not disappoint!!

We started the morning at the wonderful third generation gosho-ningyo maker Shimada Koen on the slopes leading up to Kiyomizu Temple.

After elaborating a little bit on the history of the Hinamatsuri, using his own family’s set as an example, Shimada-san, in his own inimitable style, waxed deeply poetic on the creation of gosho-ningyo.

One of his most poignant observations was that he never tries to create a 100% complete doll, but always wants to leave a small blank in which the new owner can form and impress their own images on the doll. 

We were also introduced to his son, who is studying to take over the lineage one day and is already developing his own style and focus within gosho ningyo.

I was delighted by the response of our group to Shimada-san’s dolls, and quite a few purchases were made. 

After free time to grab some food, we headed over to the wonderful Antique Doll shop owned by Tazawa-san.

And here is where the feeding frenzy really began! Hard to describe the dolls and even harder to describe the process by which members of the tour zeroed in on the doll(s) that they found too good to pass up.

The selection was amazing in almost every category and many would have found an honorable place in any of the museums we visited throughout this trip. But now they are going to private homes for a new life. 

The rest of my day was tied up in packing and shipping logistics while the group headed back to the hotel for free time and for a chance to enjoy Kyoto.

Tomorrow Mt Hiei

03/15/2026

JAPAN DOLL TOUR DAY 11: KYOTO PERFECTION!

Today was an early transit day from Fukuoka up to Kyoto. We took the Shinkansen from Hakata Station loaded with delicious bento options as our arrival into Kyoto would trigger a flurry of activity.

From Kyoto Station we headed directly to the Kyoto National Museum where our group could enjoy the truly wonderful array of ningyo organized the Yamauchi-san, textile curator for the Kyoto Mational Museum.

Then, as a special treat, Yamauchi-san gave us a fantastic PowerPoint presentation on some of her research into the textiles employed in Edo Period Hina. This was eloquently translated by my good friend Melissa Rinne, also of the Kyoto National Museum.

Yamauchi-san presented some truly fascinating information on the early design influences on Hina, as well as some deep-in-the-weeds discussion on textile manufactures for these 18th century doll wonders.

A lively Q&A session followed. Truly, a rare opportunity!!

From there we sprinted by bus across town to do a quick hotel check-in before immediately racing by taxi to the Kyoto Kyocera Museum to catch the final moments of the astounding Maruhei Bunko ningyo exhibition, which I previewed a few weeks ago in these pages.

Doors closed at 5:30 and we were in by 5:15!!!

Melissa Rinne from the Kyoto National Museum joined us there as well, giving us the opportunity to have a more relaxed conversation as we toured these amazing dolls.

Very little photography allowed! Sorry!

Tomorrow: Shimada Koen wondrous gosho-ningyo and antique ningyo shopping!!!

03/14/2026

JAPAN DOLL TOUR DAY 11: FUKUOKA, HAKATA, AND HELL

Today was a little change of pace as we finish up our time on the large island of Kyushu.

Our first stop was Tochoji Temple to view their massive wood Buddha and take their simulate excursion to hell. Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed. However, the grounds themselves are beautiful with many wonderful details and people took advantage of creating many memorable images.

From there, we went to the Hakata handicraft center, largely to view the epically beautiful seated Fukusuke figure by Nakamura Shinkyo-san. But it was also a wonderful opportunity for members to explore a different aspects of the Hakata area crafts, including weaving, and of course, Hakata-ningyo. 

From there, we went to the Fukuoka city museum with its wonderful display of the areas history, including an example of a Yamakasa Festival float.

Lunch was at Fukuoka Tower, high above the city with stunning views of the ocean and the islands that dot the coast. 

From there, we returned back to the hotel and provided different options for people to explore the city more at their own pace. I took a walk with several of the members through the long covered arcade leading down to the river, where, Shogetsudo, the largest Hakata-ningyo store in Fukuoka can be found.

Afterwards was a long overdue visit to the oldest Sumiyoshi Shrine in Japan—an amazing spiritual oasis in the middle of the city.

During the early evening we took members for a walk along the river to visit Fukuoka’s famous yattai food trucks.

A great day, once again, though a bit more low key!

Tomorrow we head to Kyoto to begin our final few days of the tour!

03/13/2026

JAPAN DOLL TOUR DAY 10: HAKATA NINGYO IN FUKUOKA

What a great day!!!!!!

We left the lavish Ohana hotel this morning and took our bus to the fifth largest city in Japan, Fukuoka.

Our goal is to explore the art and culture of Hakata-ningyo. In the Post war years, this traditional clay doll form  developed something of a reputation as being a cheap souvenir item, easily prone to breakage. And a popular go-to for military service personnel traveling in the area looking for inexpensive gifts.

But in the last decades, a group of dedicated artists have transformed Hakata-ningyo into an internationally recognized art form, creating masterworks of clay and pigment, that stretches the bounds of the genre and captures the imagination.

We first stopped at the Hakata Furusato-no-Michi to step back in time and experience a traditional hakata-ningyo workshop.

From there, we walked almost literally across the street to Kushida Shrine, the epicenter of one of Japan’s most important festivals featuring Hakata’s famous Yamakasa Floats, festooned with ningyo.

After a quick lunch, we then headed over to the main point of this visit: the studio and gallery of Nakamura Shinkyo and his son Hiromine. 

This father and son duo are a powerhouse of creativity and we were transfixed, not only by the doll forms that we saw, but their visions of the future.

Hiromine has been invited to participate in the Venice Biennale this year! (Sincere congratulations!!). His stunning work has also captured the eyes of an internationally renowned Studio and he is working on new material exclusively for them. We were shown the prototypes, but under strict instructions not to review who they were for or to take images of the pieces. So excited for him!

Shinkyo-san explained not only his work as a Hakata ningyo craftsman, but also his extensive work on the ningyo used in the Yamagasa festival floats.

In fact, sections of one float were in their studio so we were able to inspect them up close up and personal to see how extraordinary the workmanship is. 

Magical!!

From there, we traveled to our hotel for the next two nights here in Fukuoka.

One of Hiromine’s pieces has been translated into a large-scale sculpture for a park in the area, so while others settled in and began to search about for dinner, I took the long walk to the park to see if I could find this beast for myself.

Seeing the small ningyo in the gallery, and then encountering the behemoth in the park was surreal!

What an amazing day!!