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karakuri ningyō are traditional mechanized or automata, made from the 17th century to the 19th century. The dolls' gestures provided a form of entertainment. The word 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 is thought to come from the Japanese verb , 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.
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|Camshaft]] 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 construction and use.
were initially only known to upper-class Japanese, such as and , as the only members of society wealthy enough to afford them. However, 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 , 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 puppets. His masterpieces are and doll (letter-writing doll). In the case of , using mechanical power, a puppet shoots a target with a bow and arrow, and in the case of , a puppet dips a brush into ink and writes characters on paper.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Hisashige Tanaka (1799-1881). The Seiko Museum Ginza.
According to Kirsty Boyle, a student of one of the last puppet masters in Japan, the tradition focuses on the art of concealing technology with the belief that it would evoke feelings and emotions more effectively. It is also noted that, although the puppet resembles the human figure, it has a form of decisive movement that features rapid shifts that cannot be captured by the naked eye.
There were also more inexpensive toys based on traditional . The that for a period were frequently made in Japan and sold for export were sometimes modeled after .
Some scholars note that the gestures and movements of the have influenced Noh, kabuki and theatre.
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