🌸 Sakura Toffee Doll - Kおんにち-わ! 🌸

Sakura (Limited Edition) Toffee Doll By Huckleberry Toys... Or my "Christmas Present Doll" - Lucky me!!

Sakura is one of the first wave of 6 Toffee Dolls that went on sale in 2009, each of the dolls in this series of Toffee Dolls was limited to 1,000 after this limit was produced the dolls were retired.

They hit the market with a retail price of £129.99.
The doll's were designed by Riri Fukuju, a Japanese doll maker who has been making and selling similar dolls via her website for a few years prior to her designing this range of dolls, here's a link to her website: http://www.cuddleafluffy.com/


The dolls have some very unique features, when compared to other big eyed & articulated dolls on the market, such as:

 They have Five points of articulation, these are at the joints of their neck, legs and arms, which doesn't' sound so unique until you realise that they are articulated in the same way that "Old fashioned" Teddy bears are! 

The doll's bodies are soft, like a Teddy bear, and made out of colourful Japanese fabrics, with the faces and hands being made of Polyurethane plastic, and their large eyes, made of glass.

They have removable outfits, but this is limited to their clothing on the body only, as the head wear is actually part of the head itself!

The doll measures 12 inches in height (30.5 cm).

And each one comes with a Certificate of Authenticity, which states their number out of 1,000 in the range.

The box as well as the doll's body, it's clothing and it's hair is all hand sewn and hand applied, as is the painting on the doll's face! 

The box comes with an insert which is a "backdrop" enabling you to pose and photograph the doll against in an "environment" which illustrates in with her own particular "story".

Each doll has her own story, which is illustrated with her clothing, box art,and the backdrop which is included inside the doll's box, This is Sakura's...


"Konnichi-wa! Hello and welcome! As the spring sun warms the day, the cherry tree comes to life full of beautiful cherry blossoms that make you smile and gaze in wonder. My name, Sakura, translated means cherry blossom. I look forward to sharing times of happiness with you. This limited edition treasure is sure to be one of the hottest and in demand dolls for some time to come!

Sakura Toffee is dressed in a carefully tailored traditional Japanese kimono ensemble, which includes an authentic kimono made from handmade kimono fabric imported from Japan and belt that is accented with a skull. She's wearing shiny black buckle slip on shoes.

Sakura comes with a numbered Certificate of Authenticity, a doll stand, a custom designed pull-out backdrop to highlight Sakura in her environment and a handmade collector's box to store the doll in. Due to material availability, Sakura's kimono will be made from different materials than shown here."

(The above text, I have found on a number of listings for this doll,  I have recently discovered that it originally appeared on the Huckleberry Toys & Toffee Dolls official websites)

Image from Ebay Listing, taken I think, from the Huckleberry Doll's official website.

Above is an image of Sakura against her backdrop, and below is a photo of how she looks in her box when first purchased, as you can see from the photograph, her box is decorated with images of Cherry Blossom, which along with her "Geisha style Kimono" and pale made-up face, makes her look very traditional, she looks like she would feel very at home in Feudal Japan!

Image from Ebay Listing.

Here she is free of her box, and away from her backdrop...just look at those eyes, they're mesmerising!!

Image from Ebay Listing

She really is an adorable little Geisha, although I suspect she might be in "Cosplay", as those shiny little shoes of hers are definitely not proper Geisha shoes!

Image from Ebay Listing

Like Teddy Bears, these dolls are cuddly and are "chunky" unlike most 12 inch dolls on the market.

They also come with their own stands, to enable you to pose them better against their beautifully designed "back drops", as let's face it, little stumpy Teddy-legs are not designed to stand up by themselves!.

I really love the idea of a Mixed Media doll, that has a similar range of functions as a traditional barbie (minus the leg click & hold). 

 I also love the fabric patterns used for the her body, and I really hope my girl has this yellow, grey & black fabric as I just love the kitschness of it!

Likewise the fabric patterns used on the kimono in the above photo is gorgeous and very reminiscent of Vintage Kimono fabrics.

The fabric choice used for the legs, looks like an odd choice when she is "naked" but as you can see in the picture of her "dressed" above, it looks like she is wearing patterned leggings or tights, and suits her look so well!

How I've come into a Sakura Toffee Doll of my own...

I'm very lucky as one of my Mother's friend Sylvia, and her husband Nigel, are always kind enough to send me a monetary gift each Christmas... and I worked out that if I was to use that money, I would be able to have this doll - I have been drooling over for a few years now...AND it would only cost me £9 of my own money to do so! 

The idea of being able to own her and for only £9 at that... is just too much for me to resist, so she is about to come and live at my house - hopefully in time for Christmas!