A village of small Kokeshi Dolls

I picked these up at a thrift store a couple of days ago and I was hoping someone might be able to make out some of the writing. I was thinking about maybe downloading one of the optical translator apps, however I suspect the characters might be too stylized for it to recognize them. These look similar to the ones my folks brought home in the late 1950's, the wood has some patina. They are all about 2" to 4" inches tall. There is no writing on the bottom of them. I was wondering if maybe the writing was about good luck or something like that, as opposed to being an artist signature.

 

Kokeshi dolls are divided into two main groups. "Traditional Kokeshi" (Dento) dolls are a folk art, and are made up of 11 types, based on shapes and patterns that are particular to a certain area of Japan, primarily centered around particular spas.

"Creative Kokeshi" (Shingata) are the other group, made after World War II, and are not particular to a specific region of Japan. They are dolls that allow the individual artist freedom to create their own interpretations in terms of shape, design and color, according to their own imagination. They can be found all over Japan, and are a popular souvenir/collectible item.

Your dolls all fit into the latter category of collectibles. I can't help translate the writing, but there are a number of good websites that have information about kokeshi dolls. I believe there used to be a collector who specialized in them here on the forum, but I don't recall their name (or maybe it was on that other site that so many of us came from.) I doubt if the translation will affect the possible sale in any way, there are a lot of collectors out there, and I seem to sell, locally, every one I can find.

 

Thank you for the detailed response. I will have to unpack the ones my parents had and see what category they are in. It is nice to know that in the future there will be people who will want to own and appreciate them.