Traditionally crafted in the small city of Takayama, these dolls are hand-painted using woodblocks. The color is fixed to the raw cotton at high temperature and each doll is then filled in with rice hulls and hand-sewn, so that every one of them is genuinely unique. This little bird is part of the Japanese wild bird series and depicts a Japanese paradise flycatcher, a rare bird that lives throughout all Japan and especially in the Shizuoka Prefecture, of which it is a mascotte. For its wonderful song it is considered another of the three Japanese songbirds and it's nicknamed "Sankōchō" (三光鳥) as its singing can be heard as formed by the words "moon, star, sun" (月・日・星), which is why it has these three images depicted on its chest. Cotton and rice hulls. A wonderful doll, an exquisite example of Japanese craftsmanship. 32 cm x 6 cm x 3 cm