One of the traditional hand crafts in Fukuoka is Hakata Doll made from clay and colored.  This tradition has a long history for more than 400 years.  Our students enjoyed painting dolls for NILS activity.

“The clay figure painting activity was rather enjoyable. We started off taking a train go Tenjin from Ohashi, then a bus then walled through the downtown for a bit. Upon reaching the store we were prompted to pick a model of clay sculptures to paint. These ranged from little girls to dragons to geishas to objects amongst other things. Once picking one just sat down and spent the rest of the day painting it. As simple as it sounds, the actual task was daunting, although the paint was quick drying, the small details of the clay would quickly get smoothed out if too many coats of incorrect paint filled the gap, and with the precision of how detailed these lines where made, messing up a few times was more the guaranteed. Regardless of the frustration of trying to make every detail as perfect as possible , the actual activity was very fun. I would never have though to try something like this if I was not brought here by the school. Thanks to them I got to try something I never would have done otherwise.”

“This trip was a lot of fun. It was amazing to see all of the beautiful hand crafted dolls.

They were all painted so beautifully!! I couldn’t wait to pick my own and get to work. There were quite a few dolls to choose from, I couldn’t decide if I wanted a dragon, a horse, a geisha, or a samurai. I decided to go with a woman wearing a kimono. I decided to base her off of the Shinsengumi. It was great to see every ones thoughts and ideas come to life in their dolls. We had one hour to paint, which wasn’t enough time for me, so I will go back soon and finish my HIJIKATA.”