Small 'Tai Guruma' Wooden Car by Kōbō Miyaji

These 'Tai Guruma' wheeled wooden fish were made at Kobo Miyaji at the Kagoshima Shirine.

It is a representation of the Tai bream which ate the magic fish hook of Yamasachi-hiko within the legend of Umisachi-hiko and Yamasachi-hiko.

Made from a pine wood board, it is a brightly coloured example of the folk toys found in regions of Japan.

The smaller version is 11cm long and 6cm high.  It weighs almost 50g.

About Kōbō Miyaji

Folk toys have been sold at the Kagoshima Shrine for longer than anyone can recall. The shrine itself has an association with the 8th century Emperor Jinmu of semi-legend. The items made in the small workshop adjacent to the shrine: Kōbō Miyaji, are connected to Jinmu’s mythical back story, and with festivities in the calendar. There are three main items. Wheeled wooden fish, which in legend once ate the magic hook of Yamasachi-hiko (the grandfather of Jinmu). There are also Kōbako boxes as were once the property of Jinmu’s grandmother Toyotama-hime, herself the daughter of Watatsumi, deity of the sea. For the horse festival early each year, there are small portable drums known colloquially as ponpachi. In Japanese religions, gods can be everywhere, and both a benevolent and malevolent presence. It is as well to play with them. And hence the enduring tradition of handmade folk toys. Their bright designs and forms, say something about the communities in which they were made.