Age of Christmas gift tag (?) ... with Kokeshi

[mendocinosocialclub]

Hi all, here's a really random one 😀... anyone have a guess at the decade of the tag based on the graphics look of it?

The tag was inside one of the Kokeshi boxes.

From left to right ...

めんこいこ, Pretty girl

河童小僧, Kappa (river imp) boy

姉っこ. Young (marriage-able) girl

雪っこ, Snow girl (yukikko)

[gracieallen01]

Do any of the kokeshi have stamps or calligraphy on the bottom?  That would generally be the maker - which could help date them.   This style of kokeshi is referred to as 'creative'.

[argon38]

When you start to write "Merry Christmas" on a gift tag and realise too late there isn't enough space...

[melda58]

I am assuming that the reference to "Four  Seasons" on the handwritten tag  is to the famous NY restaurant which opened in 1959 (and closed in 2019).  So I'd say 1960's is the decade, or possibly 1959.

Rita

[maxine*j]

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@melda58 wrote:

I am assuming that the reference to "Four  Seasons" on the handwritten tag  is to the famous NY restaurant which opened in 1959 (and closed in 2019).  So I'd say 1960's is the decade, or possibly 1959.

Rita

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I thought the note meant the four dolls represent the four seasons.   Oh!  I get it -- maybe the reference is to both the Four Seasons restaurant and the Four Seasons dolls.

=

[melda58]

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@maxine*j wrote:

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@melda58 wrote:

I am assuming that the reference to "Four  Seasons" on the handwritten tag  is to the famous NY restaurant which opened in 1959 (and closed in 2019).  So I'd say 1960's is the decade, or possibly 1959.

Rita

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I thought the note meant the four dolls represent the four seasons.   Oh!  I get it -- maybe the reference is to both the Four Seasons restaurant and the Four Seasons dolls.

=

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Yes the key phrase is "New York luncheon" - so that's what led to my assumption of Four Seasons restaurant.

Rita

[argon38]

A very clever idea, and entirely plausible.

[mendocinosocialclub]

@gracieallen01  you got it, they are signed on the back, small calligraphy kanji signature. It's a good thought, may try that eventually, haven't had any luck finding age on past kokeshis from the signature though. So thought the tag might at least be an quick / easier way to rough-estimate, ballpark on the age and otherwise just list them as generally "vintage."

@melda58  ah, that would be clever if it was the dual meaning. I like @maxine*j assumed it was each was a season, with 'snow girl' being the only one that looks the part literally.

@argon38  haha, Flossie was determined.

[melda58]

Not really a dual meaning.  The "four seasons" dolls just meant by the writer to represent and recall a memory of a luncheon in New York at a restaurant called Four Seasons.  Tag can't be earlier than 1959 therefore.

Rita

[maxine*j]

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@mendocinosocialclub wrote:

...@melda58  ah, that would be clever if it was the dual meaning. I like @maxine*j assumed it was each was a season, with 'snow girl' being the only one that looks the part literally...

Sets of "four seasons" kokeshi dolls:

https://www.google.com/search?q=four+seasons+kokeshi+dolls&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwi_1Kiv6JjzAhVJqHIEHRv...

Many of them have themes which don't seem "four seasons" to me, but that;s just my Western eyes.

=

[gracieallen01]

Hmmmm, I wonder if it might not mean 'Four Seasons  of Life' and has no specific reference to a particular restaurant, but to a special event?

[maxine*j]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

Hmmmm, I wonder if it might not mean 'Four Seasons  of Life' and has no specific reference to a particular restaurant, but to a special event?

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I have never heard of the "Four Seasons of Life," but it could be.   That would work, too, with the idea that somehow these four dolls are a kind of pun on the name of the restaurant where all those "New York luncheons" were enjoyed;  I.e., The Four Seasons Restuarant, as Rita suggested. 

Japan has many children's festivals, too, so I wonder if these four dolls might fit in with those?

=

[melda58]

The Four Seasons restaurant is or was practically synonymous with "New York luncheon".   I'm pretty certain that that is the occasion the writer referred to when he or she wrote "In memory of a New York luncheon, these are Japan's......representing the Four Seasons." 

The age of tag itself is what OP was asking about.  Of course the tag could have been lying around and the tag writer could have just used it to go along with the dolls being gifted, in which case the tag could have been printed before 1959.  

Rita

[Anonymous]

Frankie Valli and the band?