Karakuri ningyō

Karakuri puppets are traditional Japanese mechanized puppets or automata, made from the 17th century to the 19th century. The dolls' gestures provided a form of entertainment. The word karakuri has also come to mean "mechanisms" or "trick" in Japanese. It is used to describe any device that evokes a sense of awe through concealment of its inner workings. The name karakuri is thought to come from the Japanese verb karakuru, which means "to pull, stretch, and move a thread". It is alternatively written in kanji as 絡繰り, 絡繰, 機巧, 機関, and archaically as 唐繰. One of the earliest recorded references in Japan to similar automata devices is found in the Nihon Shoki, which references a mechanism known as a south-pointing chariot appearing during the reign of Empress Kōgyoku, in 658 CE. Karakuri were further developed in Japan after the introduction of European clock-making technology sometime in the early 17th century, during the Sengoku period. The gears and cams used in clock-making were used to create moving dolls. The country embraced the mechanized puppet performance as a form of entertainment, and it became popular during the Edo period, which was considered the golden age of karakuri construction and use. Karakuri were initially only known to upper-class Japanese, such as kuge and daimyo, as the only members of society wealthy enough to afford them. However, karakuri gained widespread popularity through their use as part of floats during street festivals, such as the Toshogu Matsuri in Nagoya. In 1662, clockmaker Takeda Omi completed the first butai karakuri, karakuri designed for stage performances, in the Dōtonbori neighborhood of Osaka. He then built several of these large puppets for theatrical exhibitions, and the theatre was passed down through several generations of his family. In the 19th century, Tanaka Hisashige, the founder of Toshiba, gained a reputation by making technically sophisticated karakuri puppets. His masterpieces are arrow-shooting boy and Moji-kaki doll (letter-writing doll).