Closeup – Mimushi by Blattke

The Mimushi Dauntless Gatekeepers are a series of hand-carved wooden sumo figures (5”) envisioned by their conceptual creator Blattke.  According to the back-story, Mimushi is actually an amorphous creature with seemingly endless personalities.  The Dauntless Gatekeepers serve to control the links between his various personalities and physical forms.

Originally released in August of last year, the Mimushi are part of a growing trend towards designer toys produced in alternate materials.  Each Mimushi is carved from sustainable wood harvested from the Amazon.  This first completed series features 119 figures in a wide variety of types mixing wood colors along with different loin cloth patterns.

The Mimushi is a unique product in that it mixes a designer/urban toy aesthetic with traditional craft techniques.  The basic shape  and design of the cute figure is fairly  familiar from the scowl to the wide squat body.   What is unusual of course is the execution in wood.  In particular the painstaking wheat straw veneer process for the  various loin cloth patterns isnovel  form of ‘deco’ within the designer toy realm.  We’re not ones to fixate on loin cloths, but in our opinion its the stand-out design feature.   While each figure is hand-crafted and slightly different from one another, the quality appears to be quite high —  similar to what one might expect from a production figure.

Rounding out the offering, the Mimushi come in a clever and appropriately wooden crate style box featuring burned-in character art, logos and text on all sides.  The front panel slides off to reveal the figure nestled in a bed of straw.

If you’re looking for an unusual, eco-friendly addition to your collection – give Mimushi a look.  Prices range from $180 – $320 depending on the specific type. In case you’re curious, the one we photographed for the article is one of several Mimushibo Benkeis.  Series 1 features quite a variety of types – check them all out in the Mimushi web store.