The Japanese Woman, Bronze statue in Kazanlak, Bulgaria

The Japanese Woman is a bronze statue on Iskra Street in central Kazanlak, opposite the Iskra cinema. It shows a standing girl in a long draped dress, her right arm raised straight above her head, on a flowing bronze base atop a grey stone pedestal with an engraved inscription. It was made to the design of Doko Dokov by sculptor Vanyo Kolev and caster Nikolay Fitkov.

The statue was unveiled on 5 June 2015, the first festive day of Kazanlak's 112th Rose Festival. It was made to a design by Doko Dokov, honorary citizen of Kazanlak, over three months by sculptor Vanyo Kolev and sculptor-caster Nikolay Fitkov, with Prof. Velichko Minekov as consultant. A donation campaign by Kazanlak Municipality raised over 38,000 leva for its making and installation.

The statue marks the twinning of Kazanlak with the Japanese city of Fukuyama and the interest Japanese visitors take in the Rose Festival, around 500 of whom come for the event. It stands on ulitsa Iskra opposite the Iskra cinema, near the centre. Its style recalls Doko Dokov's Thracian Woman nearby, and Dokov called it a tribute to the Japanese nation.

The statue stands in a public square in central Kazanlak and is easy to reach on foot from most parts of the town center. Taking a few minutes to read the full inscriptions on the base helps to understand what the work represents.

The statue echoes Doko Dokov's earlier "Thracian Woman", another Kazanlak emblem standing nearby, and Dokov presented it as a tribute to the Japanese nation. Its unveiling on 5 June 2015 opened the 112th Rose Festival, an event that draws around 500 Japanese tourists to Kazanlak each year.