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The Margaret Geist Collection
of Ryukyuan Folk Arts
Left, Bobble-head kokeshi doll, Okinawa, 2000:160.19. Center, Festival
doll, Okinawa, 1958; 2000:160.22. Right, Kokeshi doll with parasol,
Okinawas, 2000:160.18.
Photo by Pearl Yee Wong
Paper mache horse and rider toy.
Okinawa: 2000:160.4.
Photo by Pearl Yee Wong
Thread balls, Japan: back left, 2000:160.86; back right, 2000:160.91;
front, 2000:160.93.
Photo by Pearl Yee Wong
Aka-beko, or red calf. Papier mache, Okinawa. This toy was believed
to protect children from smallpox, both because of its color and its
Buddhist association. 2000:160.17.
Photo by Pearl Yee Wong
The Margaret Geist Collection at the Michigan
State University Museum, is made up mostly of toys and dolls collected in
Okinawa by Margaret Geist from 1957-60 and 1964-66. Okinawa, the most populous
island in the Ryukyu Island chain, is found half-way between the southern-most
of Japan's four main islands and Taiwan. Okinawa was under American occupation
from 1945 until 1972, when governance of the island was given back to Japan.
In the 1950s, Geist and her children accompanied her husband, Dr. Robert
Geist, a member of the English faculty at Michigan State, to Okinawa where
he worked as part of a team from MSU that was dedicated to starting the
University of the Ryukyus. Margaret, an artist, immediately became fascinated
with the folk art, or mingei, of Okinawa. During her time on the island,
she promoted indigenous Okinawan crafts, meeting with local artisans and
lecturing frequently to groups of Americans there, as well as to Okinawans
themselves, including the Shuri Women's Handicrafts Group. The collection
that Margaret Geist amassed during her two stays in Okinawa ranged from
pottery and paintings to textiles to toys and dolls. Margaret used the collection
for teaching and exhibited them in Lansing area schools in the 1970s. In
2000, Gretel Geist Rutledge, also a professor at Michigan State University,
donated her mother's collection to the university museum. In addition to
the materials from the Ryukyus, there are also some toys and dolls from
mainland Japan and Korea.
The papier-mâché toys in the Geist Collection are all Okinawan, and documentation
that came with the collection provides evidence that Geist knew at least
one of the artisans. Both people and animals are represented in papier-mâché.
One of the toys, the aka-beko, or "red calf," is a form commonly found throughout
Japan. It is a reminder of a Buddhist tale set in feudal Japan in which
a red ox carting materials for the construction of a new temple was so faithful
to the Buddha that it would not leave after the completion of the temple.
The animal became a popular subject for children's toys, not only for its
religious message, but also because the color red was thought to protect
children from smallpox.
Another highlight of the collection is a group of kokeshi dolls, perhaps
the most recognized traditional Japanese toy in the West. Of the forty kokeshi
dolls in Geist's collection, at least three are Ryukyuan. with distinctive
features that set them apart from those produced on the four main islands
of Japan. These features include rounder eyes and a bright coloration, especially
seen in the use of bright yellow. Many of these dolls represent specific
dances that accompany seasonal festivals.
Also included in the Geist collection are several other wooden toys, including
itto bori (traditional carvings of birds), a doll depicting a badger from
Japanese legend, daruma dolls, taiguruma (sea bream on wheels), kujira guruma
(whale spraying salt on wheels), and fifteen ito-mari thread balls) that
were traditionally made by mothers as New Year's gifts for their daughters.
Margaret Geist's collection is important not only because it provides visitors
with access to the unique designs and forms of the folk arts of Okinawa
and the Ryukyu Islands, but also because it represents a key moment in the
history of international engagement and outreach at Michigan State University.
It serves as a reminder both of one woman's passion for Okinawan folk crafts
and of the lasting partnership forged between MSU and the University of
the Ryukyus.
Collector:
Margaret Geist
Donor:
Gretel Geist Rutledge
Exhibitions:
"Toys and Dolls of the Ryukyus Islands: The Margaret Geist Collection,"
and "Collections are…self-referential," in Collections Connections, MSU
Museum, 2007.
Related Collections:
Japanese Collections
---compiled by Amanda Grace Tigner, Doctoral student, American Studies and
Museum Studies, 2007
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