Beautifully designed, easy to make, quirky Japanese humor.

Karakuri (Japanese meaning “trick mechanism”) are devices whose mechanical movement is designed solely to amuse or surprise. These charming Karakuri papercraft kits by Japanese designer Keisuke Saka are indeed full of surprise with a dose of good humor. For example, in Climate Change a penguin tries to fly! Saka-san’s latest marvel is the famous three monkeys (“see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” called The Golden Rule in Japan). This kit marks an innovation in paper engineering as each model can be turned separately or joined together to move sequentially, so this is 3 kits in 1!

A motorized in-store display is available with either the robot or penguin atop. These beautiful designs are thoughtful with only a few moving parts, yet producing elegant movement. The kits require cutting (scissors and a craft knife), folding, and gluing (white school glue) to assemble. Each one takes less than two hours to complete. When finished, the models are good sized – the robot stands 10” H and its base is 4” W. Each model is printed on quality paper and packed in an 8 1/2” x 11” sleeve with a colorful cover boldly showing each model.