This pair of Minzoku ningyo (folk dolls), made by the fiber artist Sumako Cohn, represents a male and a female farmer dressed in traditonal garb. The male doll (AB 82-30) is wearing black trousers, zori (straw sandals), a green-and-blue striped top, an apron underneath and a hachimaki in his hair (the cloth tied around head). His facial features are inked onto his face, including stubble on his upper lip. His hair is gray and fluffy, and he has a receding hairline. The cloth used for his skin is pink, unlike the female's, which is white. The female doll (AB 82-31) is wearing an outfit made of blue kasuri (ikat) fabric, including long trousers into which a kimono is tucked and zori (straw sandals). She has a tenugui cloth wrapped around her head. Her facial features are inked onto her face. Her hair is brown string, poking out from under the tenugui.
Minzoku ningyo are folk dolls, an example of mingei, the folk arts and crafts from Japan. The name is also associated with the 1920s-1930s Folk Arts movement started by Yanagi Soetsu (1889-1961).
