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"Adam Crowe" some rights reserved. flickr

Do you know karakuri dolls? They are Japanese automata invented during the 17th century to 19th century. For example, the picture above is a tea serving mechanical doll, which vows, carries and serves tea. When you put empty cup on his tray, he makes u-turn and goes back to where he was.

At Shishi-kaikan in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, you can see karakuri doll performances.

The museum exhibits antique Japanese art pieces and about 800 pieces of important cultural properties including lion dance masks and portable shrines.

The museum gives karakuri doll performance with various types of automata.

This one is a trapeze artist!

This one walks on different leveled sticks.

Can you believe these dolls work without electricity? They look like possessed, don’ they? (^_^)

Shishi-Kaikan

Access: From JR Takayama Station, 5 minutes by Taxi

Admission Fee: 600 yen (about US$7)

Hours: Summer(Apr 1 to Nov 30) 8:30am-5:30pm, Winter(Dec 1 to Mar 31) 9am-5pm

Website: http://www.hida-karakuri.com/ (Japanese Only)

This is JAPAN Style!

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