History of the Himitsu-Bako

The himitsu-bako, or "secret box," is Hakone's best-known export: a box that opens only when its panels are moved in a hidden sequence. Its story runs from simple trick boxes sold to Edo-period travelers to the decorated puzzle boxes made in Hakone today.

What the name means

Himitsu means secret and hako (bako in compounds) means box. The word describes the box's function: it keeps its contents secret from anyone who does not know how to open it. In English the same objects are called Japanese puzzle boxes, Hakone puzzle boxes, secret boxes or trick boxes.

Early trick boxes

Boxes with hidden openings existed in Hakone before the modern himitsu-bako. Izumiya, a Hakone maker of puzzle boxes, writes in its history of the himitsu-bako that a secret box is referred to in a journal titled Onsen Miage Hakone-so ("Hakone hot spring souvenirs"), issued between 1830 and 1843. At that stage, according to Izumiya, such boxes were called shikake-bako (device or trick box) and chie-bako (wisdom or clever box). Izumiya describes them as developing from small boxes for thread, needles and other small items, with very simple mechanisms and little or no decoration.

Popular explanations of why such boxes were made vary. Izumiya describes trick chests used by workers to keep tools safe from theft. Web Japan, the Japanese government's culture site, records old legends that secret boxes were made for travelers to hide money and valuables, and that some people slept with a box of money as a pillow. These are best read as traditions rather than documented history.

The Meiji-era secret box

The modern himitsu-bako dates from the Meiji period. Hakone Town's official yosegi history records that in 1894, Okawa Ryujiro of Yumoto invented a himitsubako, a secret box. The Japan News, reporting from the Hakone Karakuri Museum, likewise says puzzle boxes are said to have been invented by a craftsman making wooden furniture and components in the Hakone-Yumoto district around 1894. Izumiya's history credits the same development to a Mr. R. Ohkawa after 1870, describing it as the integration of yosegi-zaiku and the shikake-bako to make the first himitsu-bako.

That combination is what makes a Hakone puzzle box recognizable: a clever mechanism hidden beneath a geometric mosaic of natural woods. The mosaic does more than decorate. Because the pattern runs continuously across the box, the seams between sliding panels are hard to see, which makes it harder to guess which piece moves.

A souvenir of Hakone

Hakone was, and remains, a hot-spring resort and a stop on a major travel route. Its woodwork was sold to travelers from at least the late 18th century, and puzzle boxes joined the range of Hakone souvenirs. The Karakuri Creation Group, a guild of Hakone and Odawara box makers, describes how, while Hakone prospered as a hot-spring resort, independent craftsmen developed many kinds of souvenirs, and how wooden interlocking puzzles and traditional secret boxes with a puzzle element became especially popular. The group calls Hakone a puzzle-producing district unlike anywhere else in the world.

Levels of difficulty

Over time, makers produced boxes of different sizes and difficulties. Hakone boxes are commonly described by two numbers: the size in sun, an old Japanese unit of length of about 30.3 millimeters, and the number of moves needed to open the box. Izumiya states that most Japanese secret boxes range from 2 to 72 moves. The Hakone Karakuri Museum's shop lists boxes such as a 7-step box, 21-step boxes and 27-step boxes, and The Japan News reported that the museum displays one box requiring 1,536 steps. See sizes and move levels.

Pictorial and novelty boxes

Not every secret box carries geometric yosegi. Izumiya describes zougan puzzle boxes, whose tops and bottoms carry pictures made by fitting differently colored woods together into a block, which is then sliced into thin sheets. This picture technique is related to Hakone's wood-inlay craft, mokuzogan. Some traditional boxes are finished in plain wood or lacquer.

The idea of the trick box has also been extended into furniture. The Japan News describes "puzzle furniture" on display at the Hakone Karakuri Museum, desks and chests built with techniques derived from puzzle boxes, and Izumiya describes karakuri tansu, trick chests of drawers with disappearing or rotating drawers.

The karakuri box movement

From the 1980s, a new generation of makers began treating the secret box as a creative form. Akio Kamei, according to his profile on the Karakuri Creation Group site, worked for Yamanaka Wooden Puzzles from 1972, established his own workshop in 1981 and began creating original trick boxes, and named them "karakuri boxes." The Karakuri Creation Group, whose own report says it began meeting on May 28, 1999, now develops dozens of new designs each year. Read more on karakuri trick boxes.

The himitsu-bako today

Traditional secret boxes are still made in Hakone and Odawara. In Hakone you can handle and try many boxes at the Hakone Karakuri Museum, watch craftspeople work at Hatajuku workshops, and even build a simple puzzle box in a class. The visiting page and hands-on classes page have the details, and the how puzzle boxes work page explains what is happening inside the box when you slide its panels.

Sources

Affiliate disclosure: Yosegi.com participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and may earn a commission when you buy through Amazon links on this site. The price you pay does not change.