Experience the origins of Japanese craftsmanship: Karakuri dolls

2025年9月18日 2025年9月25日

wpmaster

The word of mechanical dolls that create the festival floats

Karakuri dolls are dolls that move automatically without electricity, using mechanisms such as strings, springs, and other mechanisms.
Dashi Karakuri are puppets used in float festivals all over Japan, performing acrobatics and transformations on floats.
Zashiki Karakuri are puppets used for indoor entertainment in the rooms of nobles and feudal lords, or at teahouse banquets.

Aichi Prefecture has the most floats used in its festivals, with 422, the most in Japan.
The mechanical dolls used in festival floats such as the Gion Festival in Kyoto, the Takayama Festival in Gifu, and the Inuyama Festival in Aichi are made in Aichi.
It is said that Japan's advanced manufacturing techniques were inherited from Karakuri dolls.

The first generation came to be known as Tamaya Shobei, after he invited a mechanical puppeteer from Kyoto by Tokugawa Muneharu in 1733 and had him live in Tamaya-cho, Owari, at the time.
Currently, the ninth generation Tamaya Shobei creates and repairs floats and karakuri in his workshop in Kita-ku, Nagoya, and at the Inuyama City Cultural Museum workshop.

Tamaya Shobei will use the actual doll to explain how Karakuri dolls work in an easy-to-understand manner.
Furthermore, Tamaya Shobei will teach you how to make a puppet using a kit that allows you to experience making a mechanical puppet.
The doll-making experience will take place at SHUKU, a traditional Japanese inn in Inuyama.

You can rent the traditional Japanese inn "SHUKU" exclusively for the day and enjoy an impressive marriage of exquisite Japanese cuisine and sake carefully selected by a professional sommelier to pair perfectly with the food.
After your meal, you will enjoy a comfortable night in one of SHUKU's special guest rooms.

Contents：
①Visit Inuyama Castle and the National Treasure Tea House, and experience tea ceremony
②Learn about the history and culture of Karakuri dolls
③Experience making a mechanical doll using a kit
(Direct teaching from Master Tamaya Shobei IX)
④Experience the fusion of Japanese cuisine and sake
⑤Stay in a special guest room at the traditional Japanese inn "SHUKU"
⑥Stroll around Inuyama Castle town
⑦Commemorative photo　
Time: A two-day, one-night trip departing from the hotel at 9:00 and returning to the hotel at 16:00 the next day
Capacity: Maximum of 8 people, with guided interpretation throughout the tour
Price: 2,000,000 yen (tax included) for groups of up to 4 people (Additional fees apply for groups of 5 or more if the entire itinerary is reserved exclusively)