Tamaya Shobei (玉屋庄兵衛)
Shobei TAMAYA is a Karakuri-ningyoshi (wind-up doll manipulator). The current head is Shobei TAMAYA, the nineth.
In 1733, he visited Nagoya from Kyoto to instruct on the repair and manipulation of the wind-up doll 'Tsuru' (crane) at the current Tenma Town, Atsuta Ward, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, and the next year he revisited Nagoya,
Since then, he lived in Tamaya Town for good, and for this reason he came to be called Shobei TAMAYA. This person is designated Shobei TAMAYA, the first. The dates of his birth and death are unknown.
Successive Shobei TAMAYA
For each generation from the second to the fifth, the name Shobei TAMAYA is considered to have been taken over by a distinguished wind-up doll manipulator of those days.
Shobei TAMAYA, the second
He was a person who lived in the early 1800s. He is understood to have died in 1819.
Shobei TAMAYA, the third
He is understood to have been a person who lived around the Bunsei era but details of his life are unknown.
Shobei TAMAYA, the fourth
He is understood to have been a person who lived around the Bunsei era but details of his life are unknown.
Shobei TAMAYA, the fifth
He was a person who lived in the periods from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji period and his real name was Arakawa. His works under the name of Tamaya have been found from around 1853 on. He died in 1888.
Shobei TAMAYA, the sixth
His real name was Masayoshi TAKASHINA. He was born in a former Owari clansman's family and worked on many maedana ningyo (literally, front shelf dolls) of dashi (floats). He died in June 1930.
Shobei TAMAYA, the seventh
His real name was Masamori TAKASHINA (1923-May 18, 1988).
His father, Iwajiro, who was born in a dashi-constructing family, was adopted by Shobei TAMAYA, the sixth in 1923, but died in the following year without taking over as the seventh. In 1930, he succeeded to Shobei TAMAYA, the seventh at the age of seven when the sixth died. He is understood to have accumulated knowledge by self-education such as by visiting places throughout Japan to see directly wind-up dolls and devoted himself to restore wind-up dolls which had been hoarded up in various places; however, he sometimes 'repaired' wind-up dolls to change the original model, which, it is said, has made him not necessarily highly evaluated by wind-up doll researchers.
Shobei TAMAYA, the eighth
His real name was Masao TAKASHINA (1950-August 23, 1995)
He apprenticed himself to Shobei TAMAYA, the seventh at the age of 25. In 1988, he succeeded to Shobei TAMAYA, the eighth and while he constructed traditional wind-up dolls, he made new efforts, including the introduction of computers for controlling wind-up dolls. In March 1995, he gave the name Shobei TAMAYA to his younger brother and named himself Nihei YOROZUYA, the first. In the same year, he died of cancer.
Shobei TAMAYA, the nineth
His real name is Shoji TAKASHINA (1954-).
He apprenticed himself to Shobei TAMAYA, the seventh at the age of 25. In 1995, he took over the name Shobei TAMAYA from his elder brother, Masao. In 2005, he donated a 'tea-serving doll' to the British Museum in the UK. As of 2008, in addition to constructing wind-up dolls, he performs weekly activities at the 'Karakuri exhibition hall,' an annex to the Inuyama City Cultural and Historical Museum in Inuyama City, including open demonstrations of wind-up articles every week.