The Lolita Complex: - Scholarly Commons Home

dolls) that had been delivered to Japanese schoolchildren during the
International Friendship Doll Exchange in 1927: *
These Western-style female dolls, many of which mechanically uttered the word
“mama”, were denounced as “ambassadors with terrible [deceptively friendly]
faces”. The public was exhorted to “never forgive the enemy dolls!” and to
expunge their foreign pollution…. Nearly all of the dolls were destroyed, many by
being publicly burned, decapitated or stabbed with bamboo spears…. Only about
300 blue-eyed dolls nationwide survived, usually [saved] by sympathetic teachers
and headmasters. 74
In analysing these superstitions and actions I would argue that they
demonstrate a respect for and treatment of the doll that may be borne of
fear but also represent a deep love for a more “real” relationship with ningyō,
or this human shape. The ritual of cremation especially emphasises this, in
the desire to both free the soul and to mourn the loss of the physical body
as one would for any mortal relation. As with universal reactions to human
death, there may be the fear that the spirit will bring evil upon others but
also, as indicated by the Awashima Kada Shrine priest, the wish to avoid
cruelty is equally considered in methods of disposal.
* The fear of dolls and the belief that they can come alive and harm humans is not just a Japanese
phenomenon. For example, 22-year-old Auckland Gothloli “Mental Tart” states: “Dolls creep me
out. My imagination runs wild and I can’t help but feel like they’re watching me and are evil and
might come alive at night. Seriously” (personal communication between “Angelic Lolita” and
“Mental Tart” on MySpace, www.myspace.com/botticelliangel_nz, 14 April, 2010).
Page | 148