Fortune on Wheels – Takatoshi Hayashi's 'Kokeshi Vehicles'

Fuku Kuruma 福車, also known as "Fortune Carts," are small wooden carts with a Kokeshi doll sitting in the middle—a traditional wooden toy that is believed to bring its owner protection, good health, and success. These intricately crafted carts are often given as gifts on special occasions, such as the birth of a child or New Year's, to convey good fortune and positive energy.

However, today there are only a few Kokeshi artists left who create this enchanting, often overlooked variant of Japanese craftsmanship. That this tradition lives on is largely thanks to the artist Takatoshi Hayashi. With a keen sense of aesthetics, craftsmanship, and cultural depth, he has developed the classic Kokeshi style, giving it a new, contemporary form.

In his workshop in Ishinomaki—a port city in the northern Japanese Tōhoku region—he creates his 'Kokeshi cars': lovingly crafted wooden vehicles featuring expressive animal figures, vibrant colours, and the distinctive, cute faces of their dolls. Unlike the traditional two-wheeled Fuku Kuruma, they are modern hybrid creatures – half animal, half machine – that not only zip around with ease, but also tell wild stories full of wit, imagination, and zest for life.

For Hayashi-san, his Kokeshi cars are far more than mere decorative objects—he sees them as carriers of positive energy and as symbolic figures with a soul. Indeed, the wild tigers, lumbering pandas, or cunning foxes seem to breathe life into the small wooden companions—as if they could embark on an adventure at any moment.

At a time when so much seems interchangeable and fleeting, Hayashi's works remind us of the value of craftsmanship, tradition, and the small gestures of happiness. It is no wonder that his works are appreciated not only by collectors in Japan but are also gaining increasing recognition internationally.