Karakuri Trick Boxes

Karakuri boxes are the modern, inventive branch of the Hakone secret box. Instead of a standard sequence of sliding panels, each design hides its own idea: a push, a tilt, a shake or a rotation, often wrapped in a playful shape. This page explains what karakuri boxes are and who makes them.

What "karakuri" means

Karakuri is a Japanese word for a mechanism or contrivance, and by extension a trick. It is familiar from karakuri ningyo, the mechanical dolls of the Edo period. Applied to boxes, it names a box whose way of opening is a mechanical trick.

From secret box to karakuri box

Akio Kamei, leader of the Karakuri Creation Group, explains on the group's site that he first created wooden boxes based on the idea of the secret box and then looked for a broader meaning, giving them the name "karakuri box" (trick box) rather than secret box. According to his profile, he worked for Yamanaka Wooden Puzzles from 1972, established Karakuri Yasubei in 1981 and began creating original trick boxes, and held a solo exhibition at Matsuya Ginza in Tokyo in 1983.

The Karakuri Creation Group defines a karakuri box as a box with a mechanism made from the individual ideas of craftsmen, based on the traditional secret box of the Hakone and Odawara region. It stresses that there are various shapes, opening methods and mechanisms: "Push, shake, or turn."

How karakuri boxes differ from traditional boxes

  • Original mechanisms. A traditional himitsu-bako uses sliding panels in a set sequence. A karakuri box can use any idea the maker invents.
  • Shapes. Many karakuri boxes do not look like boxes at all. The group's site shows works shaped like a coffee cup, a helmet, a lion, a bulldozer and a kiwi.
  • Humor. Kamei writes that a trick box can't be opened if the person doesn't enjoy humor, and that he thinks about how to outwit people with his puzzles. The group's coffee-cup box, for example, comes with the hint "A little breath."
  • Named makers. Each karakuri box is the original design of an individual craftsman, so collectors follow particular makers.
  • Few moves, hard ideas. A karakuri box may open in only a few steps that are very hard to discover. Move count is not a good measure of difficulty here.

The Karakuri Creation Group

According to its first published report, the group began meeting on May 28, 1999, to create new karakuri products, formed mainly of craftsmen from around Odawara. The report explains the group's idea that the Odawara and Hakone woodcraft industry, with its secret boxes and kumiki interlocking puzzles, is a uniquely suitable place to create karakuri products.

The group's site says it currently has 12 craftsmen, ranging from veterans to young researchers, and that it makes over 40 new karakuri boxes every year. Each craftsman makes original works and also reprints interesting designs at a more affordable price. The group also makes traditional trick boxes under its own name and publishes books about karakuri boxes.

Its listed activities include exhibitions at Matsuya Ginza, held every year since 2006 according to the group, an exhibition at the Nagoya Science Museum in 2003, starting the Karakuri Club in 2005, helping organize the Karakuri Puzzle Festa in 2008, the International Puzzle Meeting in 2010 and a Karakuri Puzzle Party in Hakone in 2011, and the opening of the Hakone Karakuri Museum in 2013.

The makers

Craftsmen whose names or works appear on the group's site include Akio Kamei, Osamu Kasho, Hideaki Kawashima, Yasuaki Kikuchi, Hiroshi Iwahara, Fumio Tsuburai, Yoh Kakuda, Shou Sugimoto, Daiki Arimura, Taisho Iwasaki and Kotoya Hasebe. The group's own short descriptions give a sense of their range, from "Good at animals and stories" to "Fusion of unique form and mechanics" and "The IDEAMAN!" Membership changes over time, so check the group's site for its current roster.

Karakuri furniture

The trick-box idea extends to furniture. The Japan News described "puzzle furniture," desks and chests built with techniques derived from puzzle boxes, at the Hakone Karakuri Museum. Izumiya, a Hakone workshop, describes karakuri tansu, chests of drawers with a drawer that makes an item seem to disappear or a drawer that turns 180 degrees, designed for keeping valuables safe.

Solving a karakuri box

The general method on the how to open a puzzle box page still helps: examine the piece, try gentle movements, and keep notes. But karakuri boxes often reward lateral thinking. Consider the object's shape and title, try every orientation, listen as you move it, and read any hint the maker provides. Never force a piece; the mechanism is designed to open without it.

Seeing and buying karakuri boxes

The Hakone Karakuri Museum, near the Hakone checkpoint, exhibits works by master craftsmen and lets visitors touch and play with boxes, according to Kanagawa Prefecture's tourism site. The group sells works through its own channels and at its exhibitions. Because each design is made in limited numbers, popular karakuri boxes are often sought after by collectors. See collecting puzzle boxes and the buying guide.

Sources

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