These karakuri paper puppets by Haruki Nakamura are incredible.

We’ve seen some unbelievable 3-D masterpieces created out of nothing but cut paper before, but there’s one thing that – until now – we didn’t know they were lacking: movement.

That’s where Japanese designer Haruki Nakamura comes in. He takes the centuries-old Japanese art of karakuri (meaning “mechanized” or “trick”), usually used to make automatic-moving puppets or dolls, and brings it to the realm of paper.

Just take a look at some of the amazing animals he’s created:

▼ First up, a sheep in wolf’s clothing.
The mechanization using only paper is really impressive.

▼ Next is probably my personal favorite, the surprised octopus.
I can relate to this paper karakuri puppet on many levels.

▼ Actually, maybe I’m more of a surprised
armadillo, now that I think about it.

▼ Is this what happened to the sheep in wolf’s clothing we saw earlier,
once the wolves found out she wasn’t actually one of them?

▼ And lastly, zombies may not be animals,
but these “zombie dominoes” are too cool not to include.

If you want to see more of Haruki Nakamura’s karakuri videos, be sure to check out his YouTube channel. He also uploads tutorial videos on how to make the puppets yourself, and sells completed versions on his website, so if you want to try some out yourself there’s plenty of ways to go about it.

Now if he could just make a paper crane that really flies and doesn’t require electronics, that would be truly impressive.

Source: YouTube/girigiriou via The Kids Should See This
Images: YouTube/girigiriou