Fuku means good fortune, Kuruma wheel or cart: Fuku Kuruma is fortune on wheels. A Kokeshi figure sits on a wooden axle between two wheels – ready to be set in motion. The form links the Kokeshi to the turned wooden toys from which it once emerged, and carries a wish within it: that good fortune may start rolling. Yusuke Sato realises this idea with unusual lightness. He works at Kijidokoro Sato, a workshop with over 120 years of history at the heart of the Yajiro region.
The body takes the shape of a gourd, two rounded forms stacked one above the other, the axle at the waist. The upper part is entirely wrapped in Rokuro-Moyo: bands of red, green, yellow, and black, close and even. On the lower part grows a lily of the valley – pink bells on an arching stem, two green leaves beside it, small tufts of grass at the base. In Japanese the flower is called Suzuran. Towards the base, bands of yellow, green, and red close the form. The head shows a violet hair crown with a black fringe, red plum blossoms and falling side locks at either side. Narrow eyes, a fine smile, rosy cheeks. The wheels have violet treads. Their outer faces are surfaces in their own right: concentric Rokuro-Moyo rings in red, green, and orange, a green-and-orange centre around the axle, and between them red plum blossoms on fine black branches. Lily of the valley on the body, Ume on the wheels – spring from two sides.
Viewed from above, what remains hidden from the front becomes visible: the characteristic Rokuro-Moyo pattern on the crown – concentric circles, precisely applied. A hallmark of the Yajiro tradition.
- Fuku Kuruma 福車 – Kokeshi on wheels in the Yajiro tradition
- Body: gourd shape, Rokuro-Moyo bands in red, green, yellow, and black, Suzuran motif
- Head: violet Yajiro hair crown, black fringe, blossom motif at the side
- Wheels: violet treads, outer faces with Rokuro-Moyo rings and Ume motif
- Hand-turned and hand-painted – by Yusuke Sato
- Signed by the artist
Height: approx. 6.5 cm | Length: approx. 5.5 cm | Wheel diameter: approx. 6 cm | Wood: Mizuki (Dogwood) | Handcrafted
