Karako Shinan-sha: A "robot" based on Japan's ancient mechanical
dolls
The top of the Aichi Pavilion Nagakute will have three huge steel
towers and an immense lantern in the middle. Out will come a karako
shinan-sha, a cart pulled by a young girl dressed in old-fashioned
Chinese clothes (karako means "Chinese child").
The girl pulls a shinan-sha cart carrying a figurine on a platform that
swivels so that it always points south (shi = point; nan = south; sha =
cart). This mechanism, said to have been introduced from China more
than 1,300 years ago, became an inspiration for later automatic
devices. The cart and figures were made for the Expo by the karakuri
ningyo master craftsman, Tamaya Shobei the 9th.
(click on picture for higher resolution)
Pictures and text copied from:
http://web-japan.org/nipponia/nipponia31/en/feature/feature05.html
