Local Specialties

Ouchi Ningyo Dolls are lacquerware dolls that come in a man-woman set. This is what is told about their origin. Ouchi Hiroyo (1325 – 1380), the 24th head of the powerful Ouchi clan, moved to Yamaguchi around 1360 and began urban development modeled on Kyoto. As the story goes, he had a beautiful wife from a noble family in Kyoto, but she became homesick for the far-off capital and felt increasingly lonely day by day. Hiroyo then invited doll makers from Kyoto and had them manufacture dolls to decorate the mansion and cheer his wife up. She then lived happily after that. It is said that Ouchi dolls were created to convey this story, and even to this day they are a symbol of matrimonial happiness.