This Sosaku-Shingata kokeshi by Sasaki Katsumi showcases the artist’s signature harmony of bold color, refined balance, and expressive minimalism. The doll features Katsumi’s characteristic rounded head, painted with a serene, softly smiling face framed by stylized black side-locks and delicate plum-blossom motifs, the classic imagery that often appears in his work and symbolizes resilience and early spring.
Sasaki Katsumi (佐々木 克己／佐々木 克巳) based in Shiroishi City, Miyagi Prefecture (a center of “shingata”/creative kokeshi). He began learning woodturning and painting there in 1948, then established his own workshop.
He founded what’s now Sasaki Kokeshi Studio (佐々木こけし工房). Today it’s run by the 2nd generation, Sasaki Isao (佐々木 功), with his wife Miho; the studio continues to specialize in shingata (creative) kokeshi. (The studio’s own page refers to the founder as 佐々木克巳—you’ll see both 克己/克巳 spellings in the wild.)
Creative/Shingata (sōsaku) kokeshi: slim cylindrical bodies, often with incised or painted floral motifs (especially plum blossoms), and occasional exposed patches of natural wood in the body.
