操(あやつ)り人形(にんぎょう)

あやつりにんぎょう
noun
marionette; puppet; (figurative) someone else's puppet
entertainmentperson
1. marionette; puppet
A doll moved by strings, rods or hands to perform, as in puppet theater.
操(あやつ)り人形(にんぎょう)の劇(げき)。
A puppet show.
糸(いと)で操(あやつ)り人形(にんぎょう)を動(うご)かす。
To work a marionette with strings.
文楽(ぶんらく)は、三人(さんにん)で一体(いったい)の操(あやつ)り人形(にんぎょう)を動(うご)かす伝統芸能(でんとうげいのう)だ。
Bunraku is a traditional art in which three people work a single puppet.
2. puppet; tool; figurehead
A person who acts only as someone else directs, with no will of their own. Critical in tone.
彼(かれ)は社長(しゃちょう)の操(あやつ)り人形(にんぎょう)だ。
He's the president's puppet.
誰(だれ)かの操(あやつ)り人形(にんぎょう)にはなりたくない。
I don't want to be anyone's puppet.
新(あたら)しい首相(しゅしょう)は前首相(ぜんしゅしょう)の操(あやつ)り人形(にんぎょう)にすぎないと批判(ひはん)された。
The new prime minister was criticized as nothing more than his predecessor's puppet.

操(あやつ)る (to manipulate, to work) + 人形(にんぎょう) (doll).

Common collocations

  • 操(あやつ)り人形(にんぎょう)劇(げき): puppet play
  • 糸(いと)操(あやつ)り人形(にんぎょう): string marionette
  • 〜の操(あやつ)り人形(にんぎょう)になる: to become someone's puppet

Similar words

  • 傀儡(かいらい): puppet (formal, political), as in 傀儡政権(かいらいせいけん) (puppet government)
  • 人形(にんぎょう): doll in general
general
Added 2026.10.2 3:17 · Revised 2026.10.2 3:23
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