Hawaiiana - Hakata figurines

These figurines are a part of Madame Bong's collection of Hawaiiana. The figurines shown here are known as Hakata Urusaki ceramic dolls. These were producted during the 1950s and early 60's.

These are rare ceramic figurines that were produced in a district of Japan, that by the 1950's, was already renowned for a tradition of hundreds of years of dinstinctive ceramic work.

A man from Hawai'i, George Song, was stationed in Tokyo in 1955 and became familiar with the Hakata pieces. After touring the factories and then returing home to Hawai'i, he worked with his brother in-law, Josheph Wu, to photograph several local people to serve as models for a series of Hakata figurines. The models were first found in La'ie.

As art objects, the Hakata pieces were all detailed by hand and no more than a hundred of each one is estimated to have been produced. Their life-like appearance is due to the matt finish.

They were on the market for only two years, starting in 1955, and were sold exclusively at the two Liberty House stores and the Schofield Barracks and Pearl Harbor PX's.

Unfortunately, their high cost at the time ($10 - $35 each) kept sales too low for Song's venture to be a financial success.

Ukulele player

Uli uli player

Ipu player man

Ipu player woman

Baby Bongs

[ Edited by: Tiki_Bong on 2003-11-09 19:19 ]

Exquisite! Especially the last two.

Those things are almost freaky realistic.
The pic with all of them in it looks so real.

[ Edited by: FLOUNDERart on 2003-11-10 07:39 ]

On 2003-11-09 19:16, Tiki_Bong wrote:
he worked with his brother in-law, Josheph Wu, to photograph several local people to serve as models for a series of Hakata figurines. The models were first found in La'ie.
Their life-like appearance is due to the matt finish.

Their life-likeness is almost like I have met them from somewhere before.
Incredible pieces of art.

How did the recording go? When do we get to purchase a c.d.? (sorry. no pressure!)

I have seen the bong ceramic collection first hand and these are just as impressive as many other pieces in the bong home.

A great addition to an already stellar collection.

I've never seen those before. They are so lifelike it's scary.
I wonder if the people who posed for them got a few copies?
Thanks for sharing them.
:)

Thanks for posting those pics & info of the Hakata figurines. Really wonderful detail , and interesting history as well.

Very cool, Bong.

An amazing addition to your ever impressive collection.

Mahalo for sharing.

On 2003-11-09 20:54, RevBambooBen wrote:
How did the recording go? When do we get to purchase a c.d.? (sorry. no pressure!)

Ben,

The recording went great. The owner of the studio we went to is David Carey, an extremely nice and patient guy. He and his brother went to high school in Anaheim with Shag and David recorded the band Shag was in at the time - The Swamp Zombies - in the '80's.

We still need to record Shirley with ukulele and some miscellaneous tracks and we'll be done.

For those interested, CD's will be about $5 to cover our cost, including Mai Tais.

Count me in for a disc when they are ready. If you ever need a gig videographer, let me know.

I still owe you a viewing of your performance at Poly pops party. It turned out well. The performance at the MT Kahuna event was a bit dark for my camera.

No prob's Monkeyman.

Better get a good shotgun, too, Bong. You are aware that those things grow up to be teenage girls? That grouping of Hakatas is quite nice. I see them around here, but they are more in the line (appearancewise) of Japanese ancestral portriats. I'd love to own some of the Polynesian themed ones; need to hunt them down. I just sent Gecko a package of Hawaiiana stuff that had two of the neatest Treasurecraft dancers I have ever seen.

Very nice, Bong!
I've seen a couple of the Hakata figures before but never the whole group together. Very impressive.
Aloha,
:tiki:

i love that kinds of figurines...hope i can have that one.

i like our
figurinescollections... hope i can have mine too.
my site are already up its all about figurines.