Jiro, the son of the puppet maker Hanji, is the novel's central character.

Forced by hard times to desert his starving parents and set out on his own, Jiro becomes an apprentice at the Hananza, a position that will pay him nothing but will at least feed him. There he becomes fast friends with the natural leader of the apprentices, Yoshida Kinshi, the master puppeteer's son.

Kinshi is a most attractive character, at once bull-headed, rebellious, idealistic, and ready to take risks. Like Jiro, who is at first no more than a mediocre painter of puppets, Kinshi turns out to be a far less able puppeteer than his father might wish him to be. Nevertheless, Kinshi endures his father's sarcastic criticism and physical abuse with a stoic fortitude that reflects both his own samurai blood and a deep, albeit hidden, respect for his father...