Mr. Shoji Saito, a Tsuruoka City businessman, was an authority on antique artefacts like calligraphy and paintings, and also established his own collection, known as the Hakusen Bunko. The collection is organized in an academic manner, with even the classic dolls collected from within the Shōnai area, such as the Dairi-bina couples, festival dolls representing the emperor and the empress, Gosho dolls, literally ‘Imperial Palace dolls’ characterized by chubby figures, fair skin, small hands and legs, large heads, and simple eyes and noses, dating back to the Heian Era (794-1192), and other costume dolls, all representing the changes and lineages unfolding over the years.
The Hakusen Bunko Collection, donated in 1964, includes no fewer than 70 sets of precious classic dolls and more than 200 figures, and has become the mainstay of the museum’s collection.