Seiju Kon (aka Seijyu Kon), a sōsaku kokeshi artist trained in the Tsugaru tradition, best known for stylised Heian noblewomen in the oshinobi dōchū travelling incognito pose and Noh theatre figures, worked in naturally stained hinoki, paulownia, and cherry wood.

Sato Suigai (1920), sōsaku kokeshi artist from Gunma Prefecture and winner of Japan's Prime Minister's Award. Known for carved plum blossom motifs, dowel-jointed kasa figures, and a signed output ranging from ambitious sculptural pieces to simpler lacquered and omiyage-style dolls.

Saito Tokuju (1926 to 2021) apprenticed under Iwamoto Yoshizo in Nakanosawa and spent his working life making Takobozu kokeshi, becoming a central figure within the Takobozu no Kai. Meet the maker behind our signed Nakanosawa kokeshi.

A recognised sōsaku kokeshi signature from Gunma Prefecture, known for deep carved kimono patterns and a warm terracotta palette. No confirmed name, birthplace or biography has ever surfaced, only the mark itself and the work behind it.

A former restaurant owner in the hot spring village of Tsuchiyu, who picked up woodturning in his late thirties and spent the rest of his life reconstructing a kokeshi style that had nearly disappeared.

A husband and wife workshop in Gunma, married over fifty years: his bare keyaki grain and quiet, downward gaze, her kawaii pigtails and occasional samurai figures, side by side under one roof.

Yamagata artist Kenichi who let the wood speak for itself, using bare grain and fine wood-burned lines instead of paint, and a recurring theme of quiet, half-hidden faces.

The founder of Usaburo Kokeshi, known for a carving and baking technique that gave his pieces a texture no other workshop attempted, and for the camellia design that once caught the eye of an emperor.