bizarre but cute #3
兵庫県姫路市にある、日本玩具博物館では「神戸人形」の特別展が今月23日まで開かれています。
Bizarre but cute Kobe dolls return to ‘haunt' Himeji museum
HIMEJI, Hyogo Prefecture--Kobe dolls are renowned for being bizarre but cute (“kimokawa”) and are even sometimes called "ghost dolls" as often they are used to represent such otherworldly spirits.
The creepy mechanical dolls date to the Meiji Era (1868-1912) but went into decline after the Great Hanshin Earthquake devastated the port city of Kobe in 1995.
An exhibition featuring hundreds of them is being held at the Japan Toy Museum in nearby Himeji as part of an effort to bring them back in the public eye.
Visitors to the exhibit can see how the craft developed, declined and is now being revived.
Mystery surrounds the origin of this strange doll but there are some well-known creators of the toys.
While Hyakkido Noguchi is believed to be the first to make one, Fusamatsu Desaki is also famous for his creations. Tashiro Oda is said to have expanded sales of the doll overseas, while Masaatsu Kazuoka was a leading artist in the field after the end of World War II.
Many Kobe dolls have bald heads and their wide-open eyes are spaced far apart. They typically have unusually long necks and are also characterized by a certain activity, such as eating a watermelon or drinking alcohol.
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201610110010.html
今回取り上げるのはbizarre but cuteです。
流行りの「キモかわいい」を表す言葉として記事では使われています。
bizarreをLDOCEで調べると“very unusual or strange”、『ジーニアス英和辞典』（第五版、大修館書店）では「風変わりな、奇抜な」とありました。
この単語の大もとはイタリア語で、13世紀頃に「かっとなる」から「予測できない、変わった」といったニュアンスを持ち始めたそうです。
たしかに、リンク先の記事や画像検索で出てくる「神戸人形」は、大きく開かれた真赤な口をもち、他の人形にはない独特な雰囲気がある印象を受けました。(flyingbird)
