Masukotto dolls

[Vpep]

Hello everyone,
I was hoping to get help translating this stamp that is located on the body of a Masukotto type doll. I would like to find a nice representative example for the collection. One that I am looking at fits all of the characteristics of a period doll, but I’d like to know what this stamp says. I thank you in advance for your help and advice.
Vic

[Nick Komiya]

It says 萬龍玉, literally 10 thousand Dragon Balls, but what that is I don't know. Sounds like some kind of Chinese herb medicine tablets. Originally it refers to the ball in the talon of a dragon, a ball that brings all wishes to become true like the Chinese version of a Genie in the Bottle.

[Vpep]

Nick, thank you for the translation. An object like this, without provenance would be very hard to date and prove it was carried by a Japanese soldier, so any help, especially from you is greatly appreciated.

[ghp95134]

I never knew about “mascot dolls”!
link.

—Guy

[Nick Komiya]

They were standard items for comfort bags and both comfort bag videos I put up show mascot dolls. Below are examples displayed in a Tokko Museum. I guess they were popular with soldiers, as most were on the way to death without ever having even a girlfriend. So rather than the girlish motif, the thought that a girl had made it for him was the comforting factor that mattered.

The boy in one video talks about girls making an Anesama Ningyou 姉様人形, which are also mascot dolls made since the late Edo period by girls by folding paper. I show some of these below.

[Nick Komiya]

Also featured in this video at 1 min 56 secs from start, shown on a Zero instrument panel.

[Kiipu]

As aside, over twenty years ago I met a USN veteran, a boatswain's mate, who went ashore on Tarawa after the battle. While talking about his Tarawa experiences, he out of the blue mentioned that he picked up a Japanese helmet and was surprised to find a doll tucked between the liner and shell. Out of curiosity, he went and picked up a few more helmets and found that some of them also had dolls inside them. I questioned him about this as I thought it would be uncomfortable to have a doll tucked inside a helmet sitting upon one's head. He then told me that they were soft and pliable. Kinda like what we call a rag doll (see link below). At the time, I had never heard of such a thing and just tucked it away in my memory. For those wondering what became of the doll that was inside the helmet, he brought it stateside and passed it along in 1945 to a doll collector in New York City.
Rag doll

[visor]

Absolutely beautiful, thank you for posting this.

[Vpep]

Nick, thanks for posting the museum photos. These provide an excellent reference

[Kiipu]

Another one can be found at the link below inside the shipping box.
New type 99

Edit: The source of the pictures can be found at the link below.
Japanese Type 99 Souvenir Rifle