These Japanese wooden dolls may be too precious for us to play with, but the laborious steps behind the creation of these hand-crafted dolls have left us intrigued.

In the four-minute video, a Japanese man is seen carving each wooden doll carefully by the window of his workshop before painting delicate strokes on its body to create its features and other decorative elements.

I can’t watch this without immediately thinking of the anime Vampire Princess Miyu and this episode with the creepy dolls. Though at least this craftsman here is smart enough not to give his dolls arms.

Found on on Vimeo via Taxi.