Anime character charms put a new twist on an old Japanese tradition.

Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and The Heron has been charming audiences around the world over the past year, and now there’s a way you can enjoy its charms in real life, literally, with a range called “Kororin Netsuke“.

Netsuke are small charms that originated in the 17th century, when they appeared as carved miniature sculptures. Designed to add beauty to the ends of cords, such as those on small cases that attached to kimono obi sashes, netsuke were functional too, as they made the cords easier to use and more secure.

Ghibli often likes to add a cute twist to tradition, and it does that here by employing the word “ころ鈴” (“kororin”), which combines “ころりん” (“kororin”), used to describe the short rolling movement of a light object, with “鈴”, a different “rin” that means “bell”.

As the name suggests, the new products are small, round-bottomed charms that both roll and ring, due to them being bells as well, and there are seven in the range to collect.

▼ Warawara

▼ Green Parakeet

▼ Blue Parakeet

▼ Yellow Parakeet

▼ Red Parakeet

▼ The Grey Heron


▼ Birdman

The Kororin Netsuke are beautifully designed to match the characters from the film, with just the right saturation of colour to give them their distinctive watercolour hues.

Due to the different shape of each character, the sound of the bells differ slightly, depending on which one you buy. That’s now got us wanting to collect them all, although at 1,430 yen (US$8.85) each, we might just have to settle on a couple of our favourites. After all, we do have to save up our yen for the new My Neighbour Totoro miniature house!

Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Top image: Donguri Kyowakoku 
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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