MOLEN

Japan's mechanical doll Part 1
Speaking of Japanese Karakuri dolls, tea-carrying dolls are typical. Saikaku Ihara, a literary master of Edo, described it as "just like a human being", but he must have been amazed not only by him but by everyone who saw it.

The reason why small dolls with a height of less than 40 cm became popular was not only to walk, but also to move according to the human movement of taking and returning the bowl. Even people who do not know the world of karakuri dolls often know only this tea-carrying doll.

In recent years, the kit was sold as the 8th edition of the Gakken "Adult Science" series in 2002 and became very popular. This karakuri doll is one of the works that appears in the "Mechanical Dictionary", but in fact, it was made at that time and there is no existing one.

The one restored in 1967 by Shoji Tatsukawa is said to be our familiar tea-carrying doll. However, the "Mechanical Dictionary" tells the mainspring and spring to use the mustache of a whale, but the restored doll uses steel. * Reference material Kawade Shobo Shinsha "Illustrated Karakuri"