History of toys. Matryoshka

Nevertheless, our matryoshka is just over a hundred years old. As a folk craft, the matryoshka is young, but its origin is shrouded in mystery. The exact time of manufacture of the first matryoshka and historical background is unknown. Questions arise about the authorship of the first matryoshka and its name.

History of matryoshka

Many researchers adhere to the version of the origin of the matryoshka from a Japanese folding toy depicting one of the seven Japanese gods of luck - Fukuruma (Fukurokuju, Fukurokuju) - the god of learning and wisdom. But the problem lies in the absence of such a toy among the Japanese, as well as the very word "fukurumu".

There is a legend of the 15th century, according to which seven Chinese wise men on a treasure ship moved to Japan. Among them was the sage Fukuroju (Fukurokuju). In Japan, he is considered the god of wisdom, academic career, intuition, and longevity. Fukuroju is a synthesized image of the three Chinese star elders Fuk, Luk and Sau (Fu, Lu and Shou), therefore it has another name for Show - Xing.

The image of Fukuroju, most often drawn or sculpted (netsuke), was distinguished by an elongated head, which testified to his wisdom. The folding toy of this god, the more popular, most likely simply did not exist. In any case, it is very difficult to find material on a Japanese folding doll.

Some Russian and Japanese researchers consider the Daruma doll, very popular in Japan, to be the prototype of the matryoshka. The appearance of daruma figurines dates back to the XII-XIV centuries. This doll carries a pronounced religious, cult and even magical meaning. Its peculiarity is the presence of empty eye sockets.

When buying such a doll before the New Year and making a wish, the Japanese draw one eye on it and leave it for a year. If the wish comes true, they draw a second eye on it, if it does not come true, they carry it back to the temple where it was bought. The dolls collected in this way are subsequently burned, but this rite is not revenge on the doll, but a symbol of the search for new ways to implement the plan.

The Daruma doll acquired the form known to us about 200 years ago. Often it is made in the form of a doll - a tumbler, painted red to scare away the demons of smallpox, yellow, green and white. By the way, it is also considered the prototype of the Russian tumbler, which appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. Perhaps Daruma inspired Russian craftsmen to create a tumbler doll, but nesting dolls ... It is highly doubtful.

Traditional and very popular in Japan is the Kokeshi doll, which could also be the prototype of our matryoshka.

If a dead daughter was born in a Japanese family or she died before the age of three, she was simply buried and a Kokeshi doll was made in memory of her. Therefore, the doll depicts only girls and represents a cylindrical base with a moving rounded head. Kokeshi acquires the status of a souvenir about 200 years ago.

What brings Kokeshi closer to a matryoshka? Both Kokeshi and matryoshka are made of wood and decorated with paintings. But the design and internal content of the dolls is different. Therefore, it is unlikely that Kokeshi has anything to do with the matryoshka.

There is another point which, in my opinion, should be noted. For almost the entire Edo period * (1603 - 1868), Japan pursued a sakoku policy, that is, the country did not trade, did not communicate with other countries, with the exception of China and Holland, with which relations, presumably, were also limited. It is unlikely that at this time dolls of ritual significance were exported in large quantities, like Darumu or Kokeshi.

* During the Edo period, the formation of the Japanese spirit, the emergence of the national Japanese idea, the development of the economy and the bureaucracy took place. The Edo period is the golden age of literature and Japanese poetry.

Dolls play an important role in Japanese culture. Japanese masters have created wonderful examples of dolls made of paper, fabric, clay, wood and other materials. Volumetric Japanese toys have existed for more than 1500 years, but a doll in the form of a matryoshka doll appears only at the end of the 19th century. At the end of the 19th century, the Russian nesting doll was also born.

If there was a Japanese doll that served as a prototype for the matryoshka, why is there no such doll in exhibitions of traditional Japanese dolls?

First matryoshka

It is believed that the first nesting doll was carved by the Russian turner V.P. Zvezdochkin, and painted with gouache by the artist Sergey Malyutin. And although the authorship of the artist in some sources is questioned due to the lack of preliminary sketches, he could paint the toy impromptu.

Nesting products, including eggs, began to be produced in the resort of Hakone in Japan around the middle of the 19th century (1844).

But in Russian culture, the principle of investment has been used for a long time. Russian craftsmen sharpened nested Easter eggs, apples, balls, buckets. In 1664, Prokopy Ivanov was commissioned to paint 170 Easter eggs. In the 18th-19th centuries, Easter egg painting became widespread. In 1874, the Tyulins brothers, icon painters from Mstera, made Easter eggs to greet high-ranking persons. Each egg was carved from wood and consisted of two halves. The egg was graceful and light.

I must say that wooden toys in Rus' have always been made with great love. According to archaeological data, the existence of toys is known as early as the 9th century.

In 1721, various toys were purchased for the children of Peter I, including three wooden children and a whole town with soldiers. We learn all this from the records of palace expenses.

The variety of toys and the creative imagination of their authors are striking. In Russia, there were various wooden dolls: ladies, hussars, children, parsleys, clowns, soldiers, etc., not to mention the images of animals. Toy handicraft production reached its peak in the middle of the 19th century.

The abundance of not only wooden, but also other toys can only be surprised: “children”, “blinkers”, “sailors”, “coachmen”, “diapers”, “skeletons”, “waist”.

Moreover, many of them were mechanical. What kind of mechanisms were not used in order to revive the toy. In addition, at the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries, a broad social movement began to preserve the national culture, which began to gradually lose its positions under the onslaught of factory and factory products. New forms of traditional products were searched for.

But back to matryoshka. If we compare the historical versions of the emergence of tumblers and nesting dolls, we get the following picture. At the beginning of the 19th century, a Daruma doll was brought to Russia, and on its basis, Russian masters composed Vanka - standing up.

At the end of the 19th century, the Fukurum doll was brought in, and Russian craftsmen finally figured out that instead of a folding wooden egg or an apple, a wooden folding doll could be made. The question arises. Having a long rich experience in the manufacture of chiseled, carved, intricate mechanical wooden toys, a Russian person could not reach the matryoshka doll with his mind? I note that neither the idea of ​​nesting, nor the idea of ​​making dolls out of wood, nor the shape of a nesting doll, reminiscent of an egg as a whole, were new to him. In addition, there is no direct evidence of the borrowing of these dolls from Japanese samples.

Doesn't the fact that the matryoshka spread very quickly in different regions of Russia suggest that the soil for its emergence was well prepared by that time, nothing was required to be mastered?!

Matryoshka is considered a symbol of Russian traditional culture. It contains a certain mystery, which foreigners call the "mystery" of the Russian soul. Is this not a confirmation of the truly Russian spiritual basis for the emergence of the Russian Matryoshka.

In 1890 figurines of the sage Fukurimi were brought from Japan to Russia. Now we call such figurines ... matryoshkas.

Fukuruma - This saint is one of the seven gods of luck, the god of learning and wisdom Fukurokuju. His head has an unusual shape: his forehead is excessively high, as befits a man of remarkable intelligence, he holds a staff and a scroll in his hands. According to tradition, the Japanese visit temples dedicated to the deities of good luck on New Year's Eve and purchase their small figurines there.

According to legend, a fugitive Russian monk settled on the Japanese island of Honshu, who combined Eastern philosophy with a children's toy. He carved the figurine of the Buddhist deity of happiness and longevity Fukuruma-dza, whose head stretched upwards from numerous thoughts. The chrysalis was detachable, and inside the Enlightened One there were several more of the same “enlightenment” hiding. Whether this story is true or not, it is known for certain that the detachable figurines of Fukuruma and another Buddhist saint, Daruma, were very widespread in Japan.

The most philosophical Russian toy! And it was from there that in 1890 this “multi-level” figure was brought to the Moscow toy workshop “Children's Education” by the patron and benefactor Mamontov. At that time, everything Japanese was in fashion, and oriental as a whole - Art Nouveau reigned in art, oriental mysticism and philosophy were intricately intertwined with Russian culture in the salons. Naturally, Fukuruma found his new home and descendants here!

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There are different versions of the appearance of nesting dolls in Russia, different names are called, but Japan is always the starting point.
"The history of the matryoshka began when, in the nineties of the 19th century, Mamontov's wife brought a figurine of the good-natured bald old sage Fukurum from Japan to Mamontov's Moscow toy workshop "Children's Education". It is believed that this toy served as the prototype of the modern nesting doll."

"Savva Ivanovich Mamontov had a brother - Anatoly Ivanovich, he had a wife, Maria Mamontova, and she kept a bookstore in Moscow called "Children's Education." And then someone comes to her, gives her a souvenir from Japan - a figurine of a certain old man - the sage - either Fukurum, or Fukuruji, is called differently - there is a purely Japanese idea: 9 astral bodies, one is embedded in another, different degrees of perfection, and as you grow, you get that multi-component figure that this very Fkuruji represents or Fukuruma. Mamontova really liked this figurine - there is an element of play, a surprise. She thought - what could be done here in the Russian folk spirit? She gave it to the artist Sergey Milyutin for consideration, he became interested, and now the local wood turner Vasily Zvezdochkin is turning the same approximately a figurine, but with a female silhouette, he gives it to Milyutin, who paints it in the form of a girl holding a black chicken at hand. They called her Matryona, Matryoshka - diminutive. This is how this very Russian nesting doll is born." (radio "Echo of Moscow")

"Japan is a country of many gods, and each of them is responsible for something: either for the harvest, or helps the righteous, or is the patron of happiness and art. Four more figures of his famous students were invested in that detachable figure of the old sage."

Entire sets of figurines-gods were popular then in Japan. Fukuruma, a bald old man was responsible for happiness, prosperity and wisdom.

Vasily Petrovich Zvezdochkin and Sergey Vasilyevich Malyutin are considered to be the creators of the first matryoshka. Moreover, both masters attribute the emergence of the idea to themselves. Zvezdochkin then worked in Mamontov's workshop "Children's Education" and carved similar figures from wood, which were inserted one into the other, and the artist Sergey Malyutin, the future academician of painting, painted them for girls and boys. The first matryoshka depicted a girl in a simple urban costume: a sundress, an apron, a kerchief with a rooster. The toy consisted of eight figures. The image of a girl alternated with the image of a boy, differing from each other. The latter depicted a swaddled baby. It was painted with gouache.
This first nesting doll is now in the Toy Museum in Sergiev Posad.

There are many versions why the name for this toy was chosen Matrena - the most common - that it was the most common name then. It is also based on the Latin word "mater", which means "mother" in translation. This name was associated with the mother of a huge family, with good health and a portly figure, and perfectly suited the new Russian wooden doll. They also say that at the Abramtsevo evenings held at Mamontov's estate, tea was served by servants with that name.

"Was there Fukuruma? They say that the wooden god is still kept in the Toy Museum in Sergiev Posad. Perhaps this is also one of the legends. By the way, N.D. Bartram himself, the director of the Toy Museum, doubted that the matryoshka" borrowed by us from the Japanese. The Japanese are great masters in the field of turning toys. But their well-known "kokeshi" in principle of their construction are not similar to a nesting doll.

Who is our mysterious Fukurum, a good-natured bald sage, where did he come from? Apparently, this saint is one of the seven gods of luck, the god of learning and wisdom Fukurokuju. His head has an unusual shape: his forehead is excessively high, as befits a man of remarkable intelligence, he holds a staff and a scroll in his hands. But did the legendary Fukuruma contain the other six good luck deities within it?

"According to another legend, a runaway Russian monk settled on the Japanese island of Honshu, who combined Eastern philosophy with a children's toy. He carved a figurine of the Buddhist deity of happiness and longevity Fukuruma-dza, whose head stretched upwards from numerous thoughts. The pupa was detachable, and inside the Enlightened One, several more of the same “enlightenment” were hiding. Whether this story is true or not, however, it is known for certain that detachable figurines of Fukuruma and another Buddhist saint - Daruma - were very widespread in Japan. "

Fukurokuju

Daruma

Daruma

Daruma

Daruma

Modern "matryoshkas"

Unazukin - Japanese toy

In Russia, the traditional matryoshka doll appeared relatively recently: only in the 90s of the XIX century. Nevertheless, already during the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, the matryoshka managed to win a gold medal, confirming the status of a national symbol.

At the beginning it was...

Despite the fact that all over the world the matryoshka doll is considered an invariable symbol of Russian culture, few people know that Daruma, the Japanese “matryoshka”, which was the personification of Bodhidharma, served as the prototype for this famous folding doll. However, the history of its appearance has much more ancient roots.

The first folding dolls appeared in ancient China during the Song Dynasty, around 1000 AD. e. Outwardly, they did not look like dolls at all. These were small boxes, beautifully decorated and multifunctional. Much later, in the 18th century, the principle of their arrangement began to be used to make sets of folding dolls: each larger doll contains a smaller doll. And so the first "nesting dolls" appeared.

In the Chinese version, inside the smallest doll there was only one grain of rice - a symbol of divine spiritual food.

What about in Japan?

According to legend, a long time ago a Buddhist monk from India settled in China and founded the Shaolin Monastery there, where he meditated day and night for 9 years. The name of the sage was Bodhidharma. In Japanese, this name is known as Daruma. Like St. Anthony, who was subjected to numerous temptations during his stay in the desert, Daruma had to overcome all sorts of trials that now and then fell upon him. One day the sage realized that instead of meditating he was in a dream. Then Daruma did a desperate act: cutting off his eyelids, he threw them to the ground and continued his meditation. Subsequently, due to a long sitting, Daruma ceased to control his own arms and legs, so a wooden doll with his image, which appeared in Japan, is usually depicted as legless and armless.

Hundreds and thousands of Japanese annually perform a special New Year's ritual associated with their belief in the miraculous power of Daruma. The Japanese nesting doll itself has a rounded shape, in fact, being not so much a “nesting doll” in the traditional sense, but a tumbler doll. She has large round eyes without pupils, which is necessary for performing the ritual. A doll is bought in a temple and a wish is made at home. Then one eye is painted, that is, Daruma's eye is opened. In this form, the nesting doll will stand in the house for a whole year, and if the wish is fulfilled during this time, then the second eye is painted on it. This is thanks to Daruma. Otherwise, the Japanese matryoshka is taken back to the temple, burned and a new one is bought.

Seven human bodies

There is another version of the origin of the Japanese matryoshka. The toy, according to her, was connected with Eastern philosophy by a Russian monk who fled to Japan. The prototype of this nesting doll was the image of Fukuruma (or Fukurokuju).

In the Japanese tradition, there are seven gods of happiness - the so-called shichifukujin, each of which controls only one of the seven human bodies. Among them is the one that is responsible for wisdom, high intellectual abilities and wealth - Fukuruma. The Japanese nesting doll with his image has its own unique features. This is, first of all, a high elongated forehead, on which deep wrinkles are visible, and a staff that Fukurum holds in his hands.

But how did the nesting doll itself appear? No one can say for sure. It is believed that once an unknown Japanese master created seven shitifukujin dolls and placed one inside the other. The largest and most important among them was Fukuruma. His entire “divine” family was hiding in it.

Way to Russia

In continuation of this version of the appearance of the Russian nesting doll, it is worth noting that many people seriously believe that it was this Japanese nesting doll, with the image of Fukuruma, that was brought to Russia in 1890. And they brought it not just anywhere, but to the Abramtsev estate, where the printer Anatoly Mamontov, brother of the famous Russian philanthropist Savva Mamontov, lived. He owned the Children's Education workshop, where modernist artist Sergei Malyutin and turner Vasily Zvezdochkin worked.

When the artist saw a Japanese doll and was inspired by its unusual device, an interesting idea arose in his head. He soon outlined it to Zvezdochkin, from whom he ordered the manufacture of the first Russian nesting doll in Russia. Malyutin painted the dolls with his own hands. At first, they were modest girls in simple dresses, painted with gouache. However, later the painting became more complicated - matryoshka dolls appeared with complex floral ornaments and fairy tales. The number of nesting dolls from one set also increased. But the very first matryoshka is still not lost. It is kept in the toy museum in Sergiev Posad.

Let's go back to Japan

We have already considered three versions of the origin of the matryoshka, but there is also a fourth one. There is another Japanese nesting doll - kokeshi (or kokeshi). Its place of origin is Tohoku, the outskirts of the Japanese island of Honshu. As for the date of birth ... Presumably, this is the XVII-XVIII centuries, but some experts say that the doll was born more than 1000 years ago.

Kokeshi is a beautifully painted girl. It is made of wood, and it consists of two separate parts: a small cylindrical body and a head (see photo of a Japanese nesting doll below). It happens that kokeshi are made from a single block of wood, but this is very rare. Note that this Japanese doll also has no arms or legs.

A wide variety of woods are suitable for making kokeshi, from maple and birch to sophisticated cherry wood. The doll is usually painted in red, black and yellow and decorated with plant motifs so characteristic of Japanese culture.

Interestingly, traditional kokeshi have at least 11 types of shape. The most popular is "naruko kokeshi". Her head can turn, and the doll itself makes a sound very similar to a quiet cry. Hence her second name - "weeping kokeshi".

In general, kokeshi are an extremely popular toy in modern Japan. They symbolize cheerfulness, steadfastness of the way of Japanese culture, continuity of the traditions of ancestors. They have significant cultural value. Perhaps, according to these characteristics, Japanese nesting dolls are very similar to their Russian "sisters".

These are the assumptions about the origin of the Russian matryoshka. As it turned out, it is not so traditional for the culture of Russia, as many used to think. One thing is certain: the prototype of collapsible dolls appeared in ancient times thanks to the efforts and imagination of Japanese masters. What came of it? See for yourself.

Modern nesting dolls

Today, sets of collapsible dolls are very popular all over the world. In addition to traditional motifs, more and more often masters use their extraordinary and sometimes very bold ideas for painting nesting dolls. This is how nesting dolls appeared, depicting political leaders, musical idols, and animals. In fact, they show everything that the master's fantasy is capable of. The variety is so great that traditional motifs have almost completely faded into the background. Perhaps this is the secret of her popularity? Among the huge selection, everyone can find something to their liking.

For animal lovers

There are nesting dolls depicting birds, bears, cats and dogs - all this still reminds of ancient Russian traditions that have been preserved from time immemorial. How can these nesting dolls not touch and charge with positive?

Matryoshka-presidents and dolls for fans

Another original version of the painting of matryoshkas is the images of presidents and civil servants of various countries who are still politically active or have already left their mark on the history of mankind.

The theme of painting matryoshkas, which is relevant for this year, is FIFA 2018. Having retained the original Russian appearance of the blue-eyed beauty, the matryoshka apron was decorated with the symbols of the main football competition.