KOBO Seattle | since 1995
$ 48.00
Wood pull toy. Makes a clacking sound when pulled. Comes in a cardboard box.
Tokushima has been a center for indigo dyeing since ancient times, actively selling indigo throughout the country. As a result, many large white-walled storehouses were built by farmers, often larger than their main houses.
These storehouses became famous for inspiring toys like the "Okura" (Indigo Storage Toy), which depicts many young men working to process the indigo. From the white-walled indigo storehouse, which features a painted tile roof in black on a white background and is mounted on wheels, three long pestles protrude. When a string is pulled to move the cart, the pestles alternate up and down, beginning the process of pounding the indigo. Traditionally, when infants began to take their first steps, parents would let them pull this toy, delighting in their wobbly movements.
In the years around the end of World War II, large storehouses lined both banks of the Shinmachi River in the city, where indigo was loaded onto boats for shipment outside the prefecture.
3.25''W x 3.25''H x 5''L
Tokushima, Japan