Searching for the Roots of Matryoshka: Chasing the Mystery of the "Japanese Origin Theory"

2024/01/30

In the video for the 2010 Vocaloid song "Matryoshka" by Hachi (Kenshi Yonezu), there is a scene where a massive amount of text, such as "What is a Matryoshka doll..." and "In Japan, there are also nesting dolls like Daruma made with the same construction as Matryoshka..." appears against a yellow background, covering the screen in black at high speed before suddenly vanishing. This Japanese origin theory of Matryoshka was taken from Wikipedia, but at the time, having just started chasing this mystery myself, I was personally impressed, thinking, "Hachi is laughing at the abundance and fragility of this myth!"

Thirteen years have already passed since then. Every time I went to Russia for academic conferences or folklore surveys, I traveled to various places. Sergiyev Posad, home to the Toy Museum; Abramtsevo, where the 19th-century tycoon Mamontov and various artists gathered; the Polenov Estate Museum in Tula Oblast... For someone like me who couldn't stay in Russia long-term for various reasons—aside from a one-year study abroad in Moscow during my undergraduate years—this accumulation of small trips was very precious, and I made use of every minute.

However, with the invasion of Ukraine following the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia is now further away than the ends of the earth. So, I thought I should compile what I had seen and heard before the materials I collected went to waste and before I forgot them, rather than saying there are still mysteries... but then I found that Japan also had a mountain of mysteries. When were the Hakone Seven Lucky Gods nesting dolls, considered the source of the Matryoshka idea, born, and how did they travel to Russia? How far back does the history of Japanese woodworking lathes (rokuro) actually go?

This time, I walked through Hakone and Odawara, ordered materials on kijishi (woodturners), and was moved when I held a Nara-period "Hyakumanto" (One Million Pagodas) in the Juku's Rare Book Room. Perhaps because of the ease of not being a specialist, studying Japanese woodworking in this way was truly enjoyable, but the manuscript quickly ballooned, and publication was delayed further and further. That it finally took shape is entirely thanks to the prodding of my talented editor.

In the end, there is much that remains unknown about the birth and origins of Matryoshka. However, when I first started working on this issue, a professor I deeply respect said to me, "If you solve the mystery of the birth of Matryoshka, I'll give you a Nobel Prize." I missed out on the Nobel Prize, but the professor praised me, so I'm content with that.

Searching for the Roots of Matryoshka: Chasing the Mystery of the 'Japanese Origin Theory'

Yoko Kumanoya

Iwanami Shoten

302 pages, 2,970 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.