Valley of Dolls: A mysterious doll village in Japan

Japan is an attractive country for tourists from all over the world. As the country has a rich history, it has a beautiful landscape, a variety of architecture and a diverse culture and heritage. So every year many tourists from home and abroad visit Japan.

Shikoku is one of the smallest and least populated of the four islands in Japan. The island covers an area of about 18,800 square kilometers. Lea is a small valley on the island. The island's main river, the Yoshino, flows along this rugged mountainous region. At the foot of the valley is a village of Nagora, surrounded by stunning beauty. There are not many people in the village. At one time there were about 300 residents here.

Thus, the population of Japan is gradually declining. The village of Nagora is no exception. According to one source, the population of the village was only 35 in 2015 and it has come down to 30 in 2016.

At present there are 27 residents in the village, the youngest of whom is 50 years old. Mostly elderly. Most of the people in the village have either died or gone elsewhere. It goes without saying that there are no young people in the village.

The village is located in a valley far away from Shikoku Island and is difficult to reach. Once a day a few buses ply on the way to the village, but never again. It takes more than an hour to reach the village from the nearest railway station.

Young people in the villages have started living permanently in the big cities of Japan for higher education and financial well-being. They have no interest in returning to the village. As a result, the number of young children in the village is decreasing and now it is zero.

Some people come from the city to the village to visit their relatives once a year. Many cannot come due to lack of time.

There are no such people in such a beautiful village - Sukimi Ayano, a resident of the village, could not accept it at all. Around the age of 67. As a child, more than 300 people, including Ayano's family, lived in the village. Iano had to leave the village to study in the nearby town of Osaka.

After spending 11 long years in Osaka, he returned to the village in 2002 to look after his elderly father. When he came back, he saw that many of the old men of the village were no more. Neighbors next to his house also died shortly before his arrival.

Iano can't match this village with the village he saw in his childhood. You can't find any familiar face even if you go around the whole village. The village without relatives, friends and acquaintances seemed to him like a crematorium.

One day while making a cockroach in the form of his father for his garden, he began to think that if the whole village could be filled with human dolls, then the lack of people in the unmanned village could be filled to some extent. From then on, Iano's doll making work started.

He continues to make dolls one after the other, remembering the one-time presence of those who left and died in the village.

In 2003, Ayano made the first few dolls for his farm. Then he made a few more dolls in the shape of his neighbor's face. He placed them in front of the neighbor's house in such a way that the neighbor seemed to be talking to him as in the old days.

In this way, one by one, they started making dolls in human form. Children, teenagers, young men and women, old and young began to make all kinds of dolls. Gradually the whole village began to be filled with dolls of different ages.

At one time it exceeded the number of people living in the village. At present the village is known as the village of dolls. In the last ten years, Ayano has created more than three hundred and fifty dolls.

Everybody who comes to the village is amazed to see dolls of different ages scattered in the streets of the village. As he walks along the village path, he sees a busy peasant-like doll in the crop field. As you walk along the river, you will see a doll wearing loose-fitting pants and a check shirt, a hat on his head, busy fishing, and from a distance it looks like a real man.

The only school in the village was closed due to lack of students. The previous noise could not be heard in the school. Dust, spiders and insects have settled in that school house. Rust has caught on during school hours.

The matter moved Ayano very much. He filled the school classrooms with dolls.

A group of students is sitting in a row on the bench in each classroom. Books, notebooks in front of the students. Some of the students are busy taking teacher's notes in the notebook with pencil. Someone is drawing marks on the drawing book with deep attention. The school teacher is taking classes with a serious face. Ayano has made the dolls look like real classrooms. Now the school has everything, just no noise.

How did Ayano make these dolls? According to him, he makes the dolls with whatever he can get his hands on.

However, it is more difficult to express the expression of the doll than to make the doll. People of different ages have different facial features and facial expressions. The facial expressions of a young man cannot be matched with the facial expressions of an old man. Such is the face of a housewife, and the face of a teacher is completely different.

Due to the age of the person, his appearance and dress changes drastically. Iano said in an interview that he had to keep this in mind when making dolls of different ages.

Ayano kept it for three months after making each doll. Later a new doll was made on that structure. These dolls are like her children. He has built his doll family with the dolls in a relative, friendless village.

Formerly Nagora was a common village. No one had a headache with the village. But in 2014, a German filmmaker, Fritz Schumann, made a documentary about Ayano's work. In that documentary, he introduces the village of Nagora as the Valley of Dolls.

The village is decorated with pictures of Ayano and is able to attract the attention of tourists from all over the world. Since then, this village has undergone a radical change. Many photojournalists from home and abroad started coming to the village. Also tourists of different ages.

When you visit the village, you will see that the puppet-like people of the village are busy with their daily activities. For example, a construction worker in a hat is busy repairing the road, a newlywed couple sitting under a shady tree by the river, enjoying the beauty of nature, some people sitting in the village market with vegetables in the hope of customers, some elderly people get chairs for a moment's rest. There are.

While all of this is a reflection of busy people, it is all being done by humanoid puppets. So there is no noise, no tension. The whole village is like a silent, noiseless environment.

The puppet festival has been celebrated in the village on the first Sunday of October every year for the last few years. Many tourists came to the village at that time. They are eager to see the artwork he has created at Ayano's house.

Asked if he wanted to return to Osaka, Ayano told reporters he wanted to spend the rest of his life with the dolls. In this context, he further said,

“I came back to take care of my sick father. If I get sick or very old, I may have to go back to my children in Osaka. Otherwise, as long as I am healthy, I want to spend time with these dolls in this village. ”

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