This is the kokeshi doll of Masashi Takeda made in the 1960s-1970s, he made Usaburo-style dolls with pine, bamboo and plum motifs on the body which is his signature.
Masashi Takeda 武田正志 born on July 9, 1930, as the third son of Kokeshi craftsman Takeda Usaburo in Omachi, Yonezawa City, Yamagata Prefecture. Takeda Shinkichi is his second elder brother, and Kou is his younger sister. After graduating from Yonezawa Commercial School, he began training in woodcarving under Usaburo at his father's factory in Suminoe-cho, Yonezawa City in 1948. After his father Usaburo passed away in 1953, he took over the factory together with his brother Takeda Shinkichi, but in 1958 he went independent in Higashi 2-chome, Yonezawa City, and mainly turned the wood for new Kokeshi dolls. In 1967 he also began making Usaburo-style Kokeshi dolls. He passed away on May 15, 2015, aged 86.
