Bunka Dolls were famous between Taishô (1912-1926) and early Shôwa Period (1927-1937). The doll's body and clothes are completely made from fabrics. Japanese fabrics (chirimen, 縮緬）are used for the clothes, but they are Western style clothes. Sometimes, traditional Japanese clothes are combined with Western elements and so on. During Meiji (1868-1912) and Taishô (1912-1926) Period, a lot of Western style dolls came to Japan. According to this influence, the Western elements in the dolls' clothes are mainly bonnets and other headpieces.
Recently, Bunka Dolls became famous again. You can find several homepages with nice pictures of Bunka Dolls, or instructions for making them by yourself.
Left & above: 3 cute Bunka Dolls from Chizuru no ningyô no heya
Underneath: 3 other cute Bunka Dolls from Bunka Ningyô - Natsukashii Araka
Here you can find a Japanese "do it yourself" tutorial for Bunka Dolls with pictures: Bunka ningyô no tsukurikata
You fell in love with that cute Japanese Bunka Dolls?
On Yahoo!Auction, you can find some by Bunka Ningyô - Natsukashii Araka -->Just follow this link! The auction starts at 3,000 Yen.
If you insert "文化人形" at the Yahoo!Auctions page, you can find a lot! Not only the dolls itself, but also the fabrics for the clothes are found there.
But there are also some online shops, which sell Bunka Dolls！
AKA HIME - Bunka Dolls, dresses, accessoires and other stuff for Bunka Dolls. A doll costs about 12,000 Yen (!)
Yokohama Doll Shop - Online shop for dolls, also sells Bunka Dolls, mainly in red dresses. Price about 4,000 Yen
Heart's Shop - Retro shop for Bunka dolls. Sells dolls in different sizes, prices are about 2,000 Yen
All pictures taken from Chizuru no ningyô no heya and Bunka Ningyô - Natsukashii Araka
