* What is Japanese Puzzle Box (Himitsu bako)"?*
Hakone-town, Odawara-city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan, is known as
"Japanese Puzzle Box(Himitsu Bako)". It is one of the woodwork
handed down from old times. The origin goes back even to the Meiji era(1868～).
If the whole surface of a square box or a part is moved in order, the lid
opens.With this mechanism, it is truly a puzzle. The operation which moves
the whole surface is counted as 1,and a name is decided by the number of
counts taken to arrive at the final lid. Morever, the length of the longest
parel is measured, then this measurement is placed in front of the name.
Note: 1-sun is 3cm.Moreover, they are Hakone-cho and the Odawara district
as that with which trickbox is decorated.Furthermore, the trickbox is decorated
with traditional Hakone-cho, Odawara district artwork.The mosaic(Yosegi)
and wood inlaid work(Zogan) a traditional handicraft are used.In this case,
the marquetry and wood inlaid work serves as the pattern for the box; and
it is thinly sliced and pasted on the box. This pattern also to maintain
proper function of the trickbox.The decorative paper not only enhances
the aesthetics of the trick box, but also serves asprotection.The trickbox,
with its advanced technological aspects, requires preservance to manufacture.
Despite its intellectually fascinating design and function, the trickbox
is anything but mechanical.The feel and sound by which the tree runs are
simple and gentle. This is the charm of the Japanese Puzzle Box!
 
 
* What is Japanese Wood Mosaic "Yosegi"? *
Japanese Wood Mosaic works are manufactured in Odawara,Hakone JAPAN. In the latter Edo period,or about 200 years ago, a craftsman in Hakone established the present wood mosaic skill. In the Meij era(1868~), Wood mosaic craftspeople devised intricate patterns and manufactured a wider variety of wood mosaic articles.Natural colored wood materials are assembled together into a board with a beautiful mosaic pattern. and sheets of this board are pasted to boxes for decoration.also a plain wood mosaic block is processed into a products. There are 60 different mosaic patterns. Japanese wood mosaic is called "Yosegi" in Japanese .
 
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