Things just began to get eerie.
Nagoro is a slowly shrinking village located in the valleys of Shikoku, Japan populated by creepy dolls that look so real. Shikoku is one of the four main islands of Japan and it would have remained an anonymous dot on the map if it was not for Ayano Tsukimi, a skilled doll maker.
Her vibrant residential area was losing its charm and she has been making life-size dolls to populate her village where the number of residents has been dwindling over the years. Although there have been mentions of other Japanese villages where artists have similarly created scarecrows or dolls to make them livelier, it is Nagoro that has caught the travelers’ fancy.
Ayano made the first doll in the likeness of her father and then she came up with the idea to replace the other family members with similar dolls. 10 years later, her work continues. Every doll is located in the place where she would resemble that person. Some imaginary characters were also added.
Realizing that the population in her village was decreasing fast, elders passing away, schools and stores shutting down, young people moving to bigger places for better opportunities—she decided to recreate the good times with dolls representing life in her village. Creative, isn’t it? But at the same time very weird.
One of Ayano’s creations that has received wide publicity is the now shut local school of Nagoro. Apart from parents, teachers and other characters going about their pretend activities, there is a room full of doll students listening to their doll teacher.
Buildings that have been otherwise abandoned also contain her creations. There were also dolls in grocery stores, bus stops, and various of public places where a lot of people used to go to.
According to her, it takes around three days to make each life-size doll. Newspapers, cotton, buttons, elastic fabric, wires, paint and a host of other objects are used to make the dolls which are then dressed in old clothes.
This is what Ayano does for a living. Aside from that, she also offers a lesson in learning how to make these ‘kakashi’ and how to bring the different expressions on their faces. Anyone may join one of her workshops in making these dolls.
