he finally gets serious about this...

Hello all,

at Karakuri Nervana

Well this is my first dive into blogging. I decided that it might be fun to see if there's anyone else out there in webland who shares my fascination with Karakuri ningyō, aka Zashiki karakuri. 
What are they? Only one of the earliest and most interesting examples of Japan's fascination with robotics and the mechanical mimicking of life!
Here's a picture of me with the real thing when I was visiting Nagoya, Japan in 2009. 

not a bad attempt!
(head sucks though)

I've been extremely interested for about four years now. I've dabbled in woodworking and automata, so I thought I would give it a go in making a replica of a kaurakuri ningyo, or tea serving doll. I tried once or twice before but with mixed results. 


The first one on the left would wind up and take off down the table at 20 miles an hour. I was working from such poor images I missed an important part! After two attempts I decided I should design my replica as close to the original as possible using cad software, and checking for mechanical errors before 'making dust'. (Cutting any wood.) Hours and hours go into making these by hand, so the next one better work!


So basically, with this blog I intend show my latest attempts to create one of these dolls and all the headaches that goes with making a complicated mechanical device - from wood.


I hope you find this interesting. I'd appreciate any feedback you have, and if you're one of the few karakuri fans out there, please drop me a line!


Before I go on I must mention that I have the utmost respect for the original and current artisans in Japan who maintain this amazing craft. I mean no disrespect in attempting this. It's a closely hidden talent to create these, but from what I understand there's only a few people left in Japan who know how to fix any or the dolls that are lucky enough to survive. I hope my efforts show how much I feel this craft, (well it is a fine ART), deserves attention and reverence in the eyes of artist, craftsmen, engineers and cultural historians around the world.

Whoa that was heavy. 
Time to make some dust, or to be more precise, to start some digital dust...


-justin