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vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy
vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy

vintage Japanese mechanical folk toy

the maker
$248.00

Turn the handle and this mechanical wooden character cuts the watermelon, bringing a little movement and mischief to a Japanese toy collection.

Kobe’s hand-cranked wooden dolls became popular souvenirs with foreign visitors from the late 19th century, and watermelon-eating was a recurring theme. Japan’s wider karakuri tradition reaches back to Edo-period mechanical dolls that served tea and danced. This is a later example, not an early-period original.

Wood; materials of the crank mechanism are unconfirmed.

Dimensions (order as supplied): 10 × 7.5 × 6 cm

sourced in Japan.