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Japan: A woodblock print from the treatise Karakuri zui ('An Illustrated Compendium of Clever Machines') by Hosokawa Honzō Yorinao, Edo (Tokyo), 1796

Japan: A woodblock print from the treatise Karakuri zui ('An Illustrated Compendium of Clever Machines') by Hosokawa Honzō Yorinao, Edo (Tokyo), 1796

Karakuri-zui was written by Hosokawa Hanzo Yorinao, and was published in the Edo period (1798). This, Japan's oldest manuscript of mechanical engineering, consists of three volumes. They were later reprinted in Osaka and Kyoto. The compendium details the structure and the construction process of clocks (wadokei, jp. 和時計) and automated (Karakuri ningyō, jp. からくり人形) mechanical dolls, and it explains not only the techniques, but also about the spirit of making these mechanical devices.

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