Ingenious box for a Japanese automaton serves as container and performace stage

Check out this cleverly designed box that houses this tumbling acrobat automaton and serves as the base for its performance! A description of this box may be found on pages 152 and 153 of the book Japanese Automata, Karakuri Zui: An Eighteenth Century Japanese Manual of Automatic Mechanical Devices by Murakami-san (Murakami, Mr. Kazuo .

The man in the movie is Edo period karakuri specialist, Minesaki-san (Minesaki, Mr. Sougo). The container and the automaton are replicas of 18th century items which he made.

Here is where you can download sample pages and order the book Japanese Automata, Karakuri Zui: An Eighteenth Century Japanese Manual of Automatic Mechanical Devices.

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