Minesaki Sougo’s Tumbling Doll

This is Minesaki Sougo’s Tumbling doll, a mechanical toy made for the wealthy during Japan’s Edo period, from 1603-1868. The craft of making automata (self-operating machines) is known in Japan as Karakuri, meaning “mechanisms” or “trick”.

Here’s another Japanese tumbling doll video via automata-maker Dug North:

You can see more karakuri videos on The Automata Blog, or there’s more Japan and more toys in the archives.

Bonus: The Slinky Machine.

via Dug North.