Karakuri

Karakuri

1 August 2011

Matthew Allard keeps bringing far-away oriental stories to our little homes, and not only through Al Jazeera’s programs. Thank him for uploading his amazing docs & videos onto sharable communities.

His last project comes directly from Osaka diving into one of those ancient but always amazing professions: Karakuri craftsmanship. What?

Filming Hideki Higashino at work (photos via dslrnewsshooter.com)

Karakuri are those automata toys (self-operated machines) that go back to the Edo period  ( 200-300 years) in Japan. Karakuri use nothing more than pulleys and weights to move & perform amazing tasks. Hideki Higashino is one of the few remaining craftsmen who is determined to keep the history and tradition of Japanese Karakuri alive.

A field cameraman master who had the privilege to shoot the entire film with the second production model of Sony’s F3, bringing once again his delicate style to one of those great “frame” stories. All worth a few minutes of your time.

  share news item