The best understanding of dolls and children’s toys and dishes produced in the Nippon era is gained by reading Nippon Dolls and Playthings by Joan F. Van Patten and Linda Lau (Collector Books, P.O. Box 3009, Paducah, KY 42002-3009, 2001, ISBN: 1-57432-201-X). This book is highly recommended to all who have any of these items or are interested in beginning to collect them. Records of the doll manufacturers were not well preserved, whether because they were kept poorly, the companies are now out of business, or they were destroyed during WW2.  Those from Morimura Brothers have survived the best, but other companies also produced some very quality dolls and toys.  Unfortunately, generally, much less is known about these.  One can observe by studying the dolls that a number of techniques were used by the Japanese manufacturers to create them. The sections below hope to describe these so the collector can distinguish the different types and understand how they were made or assembled. Some of the following decorating techniques may found on all the dolls, no matter the type or construction of the doll, like painting, stenciling, glass eyes, things that made the doll bend a body part or cry, and so on.

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