SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Can dolls die? This paper examines memorial services for dolls (ningyō kuyō) in Japan as conduits to disposal. Dolls, once bought, are widely understood to be terminal commodities: they can only be passed down to a narrow group of relatives and often end up stuck in time and place. The ritual reanimates the “stuck” dolls by providing a symbolic death, after which disposal becomes possible. The ritual also enables—on a small scale—processes of repurposing and recycling of dolls or the material of which they were made. Based on six months of ethnographic fieldwork, I argue that the terminality of dolls is undone by the rite and that they can become available for other, strictly circumscribed material processes. In transubstantiation, the disposed doll is recognized as a museum-worthy object and is saved from disposal; in transposition, the dolls enjoy a second lease on life in dioramas of everyday scenes; and in transmutation, the material of the doll itself is reused to give newly made, playful dolls the luster and respectability of tradition.