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Description
Well-realized model of one of the gigantic wheeled festival carts used in the Mikuruyama Festival in Toyama Prefecture, noted for its gigantic butterfly hokodome perched on top of a canopy festooned with silk flowers. At the front of the cart rides a karakuri-ningyo of a karako (mechanical Chinese child) who beats a drum and whose head turns from one side to the other as the cart moves forward; and seated behind and largely obscured by the parasol is a ningyo of Daikoku, the god of daily wealth, holding his signature money mallet in his right hand. The lower tier is draped in rich purple silk brocade curtains with a gold lotus design and silk tassels, and the cart rides upon heavy wooden wheels with metal strapping and decorative bosses. Restoration to butterfly and karako face. Late Edo Period, Mid-19th century, Exhibited Morikami Museum (2012). Published Entertaining the Gods and Man: Japanese Dolls and the Theater, p. 47 and Japanese Dolls: The Fascinating World of Ningyo, p. 190, 197. Since the 1800s many communities around Japan have celebrated festivals which feature large-scale wheeled carts which are paraded around the town throughout the festival. Miniature models of the most popular carts were also sometimes created and put on display in homes and shops as way to celebrate and invite the beneficial elements into the home.This particular miniature festival float, well over a century old, represented the Kifune-machi area outside of Nagoya and is a miniature model of the grand-sized float that was designed for the Mikuruyama Festival held in Takaoka, actually still celebrated at the end of April each year.