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 Costume Dolls (Isho Ningyo)
Isho ningyo, or costume dolls, are a category of dolls which can be hard to define. This title is applied to many different types of dolls which do not fit into the other categories which have clothing separate from the body. The most commonly known isho doll are those often referred to as geisha dolls, young women standing, dressed in kimono and often holding a fan or parasol. These dolls vary greatly in quality, from very nice dolls which can cost a great deal, to very cheap dolls marketed towards tourists. These geisha type costume dolls are often the most recognizable, stereotyped 'Japanese dolls', but their history does not go back as far as many of the other types featured in the Field Museum collection. Besides the bijin beautiful women dolls, other common isho ningyo include kabuki actors, often the wakushu, or female impersonators. Because of the nature of the figures, these are often called ukiyo ningyo, or dolls of the 'floating world', referring to the high level of activity surrounding the pleasure quarters in late 17th / early 18th century Japan. This type of doll probably dates to this period.
  
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