Japanese Friendship Dolls: 1927 Ambassador Doll Exchange Program Between Japan and the United States

The Reverend Sidney Lewis Gulick (April 10, 1860-December 20, 1945) ideated the doll exchange program. The Reverend was born in Ebon Atoll, Marshall Islands to Congregational Church missionary parents Luther Halsey Gulick Sr. (June 10, 1828-April 8, 1891) and Louisa Mitchell Lewis Gulick (1830-1893). But he was sent to the United States of America for his education and a series of graduations from:

• Oakland High School, 1879;
• Dartmouth College, A.B., 1883; A.M., 1886; D.D. 1903;
• Yale University, D.D.;
• Oberlin College, D.D.

The Committee managed to inspire children throughout the United States to get together a collection of 12,739 blue-eyed dolls for their peers in Japan. Each doll was accompanied by a handwritten letter of friendship. The “doll messengers of goodwill” were sent to the archipelago in March 1927 ("Friendship Dolls," Taubman Gallery Guide, page 4).

The blue-eyed dolls arrived in time for Hinamatsuri (雛祭り, Hinamatsuri), Japan’s beloved yearly doll festival. Each doll was escorted from the ship by a kimono-clad Japanese girl. An audience was organized for 49 of the dolls with Japan’s Emperor Hirohito (April 29, 1901-January 7, 1989), whose reign began shortly before, on December 25, 1926. The 49 dolls were housed in a custom-made, elaborate dollhouse which became one of the displays at Tokyo’s imperial museum.

The other 11,690 dolls became participants in the archipelago’s festival of the dolls. The participation involved relocation outside Tokyo. The participating dolls were portioned among the archipelago’s kindergarten and elementary school populations.

The Japanese dolls numbered just 58. Each doll was assigned a general address. The places that were designated as points of origin were the following:

• The imperial household;
• The six main cities;
• The 47 domestic prefectures;
• The 4 overseas territorial holdings.

Each was assigned a U.S. residence.

The Japanese dolls arrived in November 1927 at San Francisco, California. One group received --
compliments of the rail company -- first class tickets to individual seats from California to Washington, D.C. With stops in Denver and Chicago, the dolls were transported to Washington, D.C., for a formal reception at Japanese Ambassador Tsuneo Matsudaira's (April 17, 1877 - November 14, 1949) residence.

The other group followed a sea route. They left California and passed through the Panama Canal. They landed in New York City. There, they were reunited with the train-traveling dolls.

All of the dolls participated in a formal reception and window display at Lord & Taylor's. Afterwards, Miss Japan relocated to the Smithsonian Institute. The remaining dolls were divided into six U.S. tour groups for the first half of 1928. In the summer of 1928, the dolls were relocated to permanent locations.

With World War II, the Japanese dolls retired from public display to storage in the United States. Only Miss Kagawa was left on display, in Raleigh, North Carolina. But a note of apology was placed on her back since her front was turned away from view.

In Japan, the blue-eyed dolls were deemed treasonous possessions. They were described as “friendship dolls with a mask” (Taubman, page 10). They therefore were to be surrendered to imperial authorities for destruction.

In Japan, about 360 dolls are known to have survived the war even though sheltering them was punishable by death. In the United States, the whereabouts of two dolls are suspected: one out to sea with Hurricane Katrina, and another with Frank Miller's descendants. Thirteen dolls cannot be accounted for. What is surprising is their disappearance from such prestigious institutions as:

• Brooklyn Museum;
• New York Museum of Natural History;
• Philadelphia Museum.

A revival of interest in the blue-eyed and Japanese dolls dates to the last two decades of the twentieth century. Dr. Gulick’s grandson, Denny Gulick (Sidney Lewis Gulick III), is a Mathematics Professor specializing in calculus, chaos and fractals at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Gulick and his wife Frances organize a yearly sending of friendship dolls to Japanese schoolchildren.

Interest encourages exhibitions and investigations and vice versa. One such exhibition is that held at the  Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia from March 2 through June 9, 2012. The Taubman Museum’s exhibition presented three blue-eyed dolls:

• Miss Virginia, one of 19 survivors of 141 dolls for Gunma Prefecture. She makes her permanent home in Joto Elementary School, Maebashi.
• Grace, one of nine survivors of 193 dolls for Mie Prefecture. Her twin resides in Ueda City Junior High School, Nagano Prefecture. Both sisters are the creations of New York’s Averill Company. Officially, Grace is called Madame Hendren Doll #216. Her eyes still open and close. She still says “Mama” when hugged because of a still-functioning noisemaker in her back.
• Norman, one of the rare boy dolls sent to the archipelago. He lives in Toyo Elementary School in Aichi Prefecture, where 8 other dolls survive.

It also showcased two Japanese dolls:

• Miss Karafuto/Nagano, the creation of doll artist Tokukyu. She bears a nadeshiko (ナデシコ, Dianthus superbus subsp. longicalycinus [Maxim.] Kitam = large, frilled carnation) as a personal crest. She actually is called Miss Nagano. The hyphenated name reflects mistaken doll identities during the 1928 tour. She lives in the Delaware Historical Society in Wilmington. Her lacquer accompaniments reside in Roger Williams Park Museum in Providence, Rhode Island.
• Miss Osaka-shi, the creation of Tokyo artist Takizawa Koryusai II. She appears with her little brother. But she is not the original Miss Osaka, the creation of Kyoto artist Mensho XII. No one knows the whereabouts of the original or the reason for the substitution of the one by the other.

In the realm of investigations, Alan Scott Pate will be releasing a book on the life and times of the Japanese Friendship Dolls (Taubman, page 13).

Each fresh detail that emerges from research into these lovingly crafted gifts from the children of Japan to the children of the United States inspires admiration for the unfoldment of Sidney Gulick's Doll Plan. His premise was based on his faith in the power of children to foster harmony and rapport, across cultures and across oceans, through their love for the world's dolls. Children's toys often are teaching tools, and dolls, symbols of childhood cherished worldwide, serve as perfect ambassadors of good will, as gifts from hope-filled, untarnished hearts. As eight-year-old Masako Matsumoto expressed in her Farewell Message to the Japanese Dolls on November 4, 1927:

"Our dear messengers, when you get to that land, please tell our real warm hearts to the American friends, and also tell them that we are thankful to have those American dolls and that they are having a nice time since they came."(Sidney Gulick, Dolls of Friendship)