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Takashiba Dekoyashiki

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

Takashiba DekoyashikiMiharu-gomaharikofolk toysKoriyama

Photo: MAKIKO OMOKAWA / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · original

A quick walk through Takashiba Dekoyashiki tells you less than a slow one — the details are where the history actually lives.

Deko is an old word for a doll, and Takashiba is the hamlet the dolls come from. Four workshops still stand here, families that have been making Miharu-goma horses and Miharu hariko papier-mache figures for around three hundred years. The Miharu horse — black or white, with a painted saddle — is one of the best known folk toys in Japan and appeared on a postage stamp.

The method has not changed: paper laid over a wooden mould, dried, cut off, rejoined and painted by hand, so every figure differs slightly. You can watch it being done, paint your own for between ¥800 and ¥1,600 depending on the piece, or book a guided walk of the hamlet with one of the makers. Two of the four houses open every day; the others take set or irregular days off.

What to know before you go

When to go

Year-round

Opening hours

Workshops keep daytime hours | Painting and guided walks by reservation

Closed: Honke Daikokuya and Ebisuya open daily | Honke Ebisuya closed first and third Thursdays | Hikoji Mingei closed irregular Thursdays

Time to allow

60–90 minutes | Longer with a painting session

Fee

Free to visit | Painting from around ¥800 to ¥1,600 before tax | Guided walks ¥5,000 for 1–15 people before tax

Access route

Directions

Takashiba, Nishida-machi, Koriyama. By car from Koriyama-Higashi IC on the Ban-etsu Expressway via Route 288, or by car from JR Miharu Station. Free to walk the hamlet and watch the work. Painting your own costs around ¥800 for a bean daruma, ¥1,300 for a papier-mache zodiac animal and ¥1,600 for a Miharu horse, before tax; full doll-making runs higher. Guided hamlet walks are ¥5,000 for 1–15 people, ¥10,000 for 16–30 and ¥15,000 for 31–45, before tax, and must be booked in advance. Honke Daikokuya and Ebisuya open daily; Honke Ebisuya closes on the first and third Thursdays and Hikoji Mingei on irregular Thursdays.

Beyond the guidebook

**Book the painting and the walk in advance.** Both the e-tsuke painting sessions and the Deko-sanpo guided walk require a reservation. Turning up allows you to watch and buy but not to take part. **Four houses, different rest days.** Two open daily, one closes on the first and third Thursdays, one takes irregular Thursdays. Visiting on a Thursday risks finding half the hamlet shut. **Watch the mould work.** Paper laid over a carved wooden form, dried, cut away and rejoined. Once you have seen it, the small asymmetries in the finished figures make sense. **The Miharu horse is a national folk toy.** It has been on a postage stamp and is one of the most recognisable in Japan. Buying one here means buying it from the family that has made it for three centuries. **It is in Koriyama, not Miharu.** The name says Miharu because that was the domain. The hamlet is administratively in Koriyama, five minutes from Miharu Station, which confuses navigation.

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