Nagoro, Village of Dolls

The little village of Nagoro, deep in the valleys of Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku, is known around the world today as the Village of the Dolls. These dolls are called kakashi or scarecrows in Japanese, but their purpose is to combat loneliness rather than bird pests. As the population of Nagoro declined precipitately, an elderly resident, Ayano Tsukimi, started to replace the people who left or died with life-sized replicas made of straw and old clothes. These dolls are placed naturalistically around the hamlet, in realistic poses. An elderly person gazes at a table of ceramics.