Japan pleases us with numerous secrets. This is one of those countries whose cultural development has created an amazing atmosphere. Nevertheless, if other nationalities have forgotten about them, then they keep them and constantly remember their ancestors. This is clearly reflected in their cultural objects, where true diversity is noted.

I would like to say a few words about Japanese boxes. Traditional has always been distinguished by unnatural beauty, supported by mystery. Many people have such caskets, but cannot unravel their secret for several years. Surprisingly, at first glance, a very simple object can store a sea of ​​​​grace and beauty that are inaccessible to other things.

Japanese jewelry boxes are special, they surprise people not only with their beautiful appearance, but also bright features that allow you to talk about their real perfection. Japanese jewelry box makers are like jewelers who spend decades honing their craft to create a single masterpiece. There are not many such examples, but at the same time we constantly meet their high cultural and material value.

Himitsu-bako - traditional japanese jewelry boxes with a secret appeared more than 100 years ago in the vicinity of Hakone. Many years ago was a station on the main road to Edo and were designed as souvenirs for tourists. These places are distinguished by a wide variety of tree species. For the manufacture of caskets, a special method of wood processing is used. Boards of unpainted wood of different colors are cut into thin strips and glued into plates. Then new strips are sawn off from these plates, which are then glued together again. And so several times. The result is a bar glued from different tree species and having a unique pattern on the cross section. Further, using a special tool, they cut off paper-thin sheets, which are used to decorate the caskets.

The secret of the box is that it consists of several parts and you need to know which of these parts, in which direction to move in order for the box to open. In most cases, in order to open the box, you need to make from 4 to 66 movements. Although there are boxes for 78, 122,119,125 movements.

Japanese box shape

Probably few people saw live japanese jewelry boxes, their distribution is not so wide. Of course, people are interested in them, but their production is nothing like any other product. It is worth noting that industrial creation of Japanese boxes is simply impossible because each of them must contain a secret. Present on the market in small quantities. Most often, these are simple fakes that are not able to please people with real quality.

The shape of the Japanese box is unusual, but there is no permanence in it. If we are used to the fact that the box is an ordinary rectangular box, then the Japanese prove that this is not always so simple. The fact is that numerous can be made in round boxes or a simple cube, on which even the lid itself does not stand out. This is one of the main features of Japanese jewelry boxes. The form depended only on the complexity of the closing mechanism, so each master chose it according to his taste.

Usually on the market we find ordinary rectangular boxes, but they cannot be called masterpieces, because there is no real originality in them.

The secret of Japanese boxes

The Japanese box is a truly original work of art.. Its shape and dimensions depend only on the imagination of the master maker. There are no specific standards that everyone adheres to. Thus, we sometimes meet caskets that resemble simple cubes. Sometimes, it seems that they do not even open, but each keeps its own secret.

The Japanese box is more like a kind of puzzle because opening the lid is not easy. There is no locking mechanism in our understanding, rather, you need to look for a small lever or button. Historically, Japanese caskets were the property of the ruling part of the population, which used them to store wealth. However, a simple lock cannot be sufficient protection against thieves, so real craftsmen made boxes with a secret. A similar secret has always been related to opening the lid, that is, it has never been opened by simply flipping the lid. Most often, it was necessary to rotate some part of the picture or press a hidden button, the mechanism would work and the lid would open. The creation of such a box took a lot of time, so the real masters can be counted on the fingers.

Drawings on Japanese boxes

Japanese boxes always fascinated with their secrets, as well as the beautiful drawings that adorned each of them. You can look at the drawings, seeing interesting myths and legends on them, but you cannot think that the apparent simplicity of the drawings does not hide any secrets.

All drawings on japanese boxes bright and flashy. They reveal pictures of the history of the country or some of the legends, although in some cases you can see a simple ornament. However, some drawings were made convex, which seemed simply amazing. Such craftsmanship could only be found in Japan. True, a convex drawing was not always a simple picture. It often concealed a secret mechanism that allowed the lid to be opened. It was only necessary to find a bump on which to press, because the keys simply did not exist for them. The beauty of the pictures was clearly thought out, it was impossible to simply draw a landscape. Each picture of the Japanese master carries an important meaning, which may not be revealed to every person. Moreover, in some cases, it is he who becomes a hint for opening the box.

Japanese boxes still bear interesting, but incomprehensible drawings, which most often cannot become a help for opening.

A little about the history of caskets in general and Japanese caskets in particular

The boxes came to us from the depths of centuries, from the mysterious countries of the East. Since then, their design has not changed much, but they began to use latest materials and modern mechanisms, improved production schemes. However, no matter what materials the caskets are made of, each of them has its own little secret.

It is believed that the very first caskets were created to store jewelry. Two thousand years ago, talented craftsmen from Japan and China made unique cases for storing valuables. They were various forms and sizes, decorated with juice lacquer wood. Masters tried to get ahead of each other in terms of craftsmanship, so new processing methods appeared in the world: decorating with fabric or leather, inlay precious stones, ivory decoration. Such caskets were a real masterpiece, they were valuable in themselves, especially if precious and precious stones were used in their decoration. semiprecious stones or noble metals.

Russian craftsmen and craftsmen created boxes that were very cunning in their design; such boxes could only be opened by pressing a secret button. The Russian people have always loved riddles and secrets, so secret boxes have become a great success. With or without a secret, caskets for jewelry and jewelry were made in the main, and they were of various sizes, from small to large.

Music boxes originated in Switzerland. It was there that the first musical mechanism was created, which was placed in a box - a carillon. Switzerland is famous for the creation of watch movements, it is not at all surprising that self-winding watch boxes were created here, which emitted a pleasant melody when opened, and consisted of many plates and metal teeth.

Japanese, hand-made, caskets with a complex mechanism.

Secret boxes are mostly and most often made of wood. You can store something in such caskets, in other words, the caskets are not props, but can really be used for their intended purpose.

The first Japanese secret box was made over 100 years ago.. Made it a miracle Jinbei Ishikawa (1790-1850). Ishikawa lived in Hakone-Odawara (region of Japan). Jinbei Ishikawa was surrounded by mountains and an abundance of high-quality wood, from which he made the first wonderful box with secret mechanisms.
As then, more than a hundred years ago, today such caskets are made different sizes, forms and with different amount steps (actions) for opening the casket and are done manually.

The surface of most of these boxes is decorated with "yosegi" (Yosegi) - a unique mosaic of different varieties wood . This mosaic has more than 10 centuries, greatest development this art received from the 17th to the 19th century.
Initially, it was used to decorate trays, chests of drawers and other items. It was, and is now, a fishing center surrounded by wooded mountains and has long been known for its crafts.

Well, now about the tricks and mechanism of Japanese puzzle boxes. No, this box will not play tunes, jump, or do any other stupid and/or uninteresting things.
The trick of the box is that it is impossible to just take it and open it. The box has a lot of sort of strips that can be moved in different directions (parts of the walls of the box can be moved). But in order to open a wonderful puzzle, you will have to move the parts of the box in a certain way and with a specific sequence.

Japanese secret boxes have the following differences from each other

1. according to the drawing.
2. By size (3 sun, 4 sun, 5 sun) and so on. How larger size caskets (sun), the more expensive it is.

Sun is an ancient Japanese value, one sun = 30.3 mm. Thus, if the box has 3 sun and 4 steps, then this means that the box has a length of about 9.1 cm and in order to open this box, you need to perform 4 actions (steps).

3. According to the complexity of the mechanism, namely, the number of actions that need to be performed to open the box. The more actions, the more complex the mechanism (5 step, 6 step and up to 27 or more steps), the more expensive the box is.
In shape, the boxes are square, rectangular (mostly).

The internal volume depends on the number of steps, and on the size of the box, of course. If there are not many steps (4 - 8), then we subtract about 2-3 cm from the external volume (length, for example, 4 sun times 3.3 external length = about 12 cm) (i.e. 1.5 from each sides) cm, and we get an internal length of about 9 cm.

Approximate dimensions for different external sizes of boxes

Internal dimensions for 4 sun approx:
for casket 4 sun (about 12 cm external length) and 4 step (4 steps to open), inner dimensions are: 8 x 6 x 3.7 cm.
for box 4 sun, but already with 27 step internal dimensions = 7.31 x 6.2 x 3.2 cm.
For 5 sun boxes (about 15 cm long):
for 5 sun and 7 step int. dimensions = 10.79 x 7.5 x 5.35 cm.
For casket 5 sun but 27 step (27 steps) internal dimensions: 10.41 x 7.5 x 4.2 cm

Various Japanese boxes (photo):

Box with a secret

Box with a secret

You can use such box with a secret made do it yourself, for storing various necessary trifles, as well as gift or packaging for a gift.

For the manufacture of boxes of secrets you will need six sheets of paper and preferably thicker. One sheet for the outer part of the box, a contrasting sheet for the lid and 4 sheets for the inner boxes. Cut out as follows (all measurements are in inches - 1 inch equals 2.54 cm):

• outer part of the box: 6 x 11;
• box cover: 8.5 x 8.5;
• 4 inner boxes: 8 x 8;

How to make a secret box

Let's start making the box with 4 inner boxes. All of them are made according to the same scheme. See below step by step photo manufacturing.

1. We draw two lines from the wrong side of our paper square from corners to corners.

2. Now we turn the corners to the center of the intersection of the lines on all four sides (like an envelope), and then unfold them again.

3. Then we divide the distance between the center and the fold in half and again fold along this line from all four sides - these are the sides of our box.

For clarity, everything is lined with a marker in the figure, but this is not necessary.

4. Then we cut out the four shaded triangles and get the following:

6. Now we collect our box. It does everything without glue, you just need to firmly press all the corners and folds (although, if desired, you can use glue).

Thus, all 4 inner boxes and a lid are made. The lid of the box, however, as well as the box itself, can be decorated according to your taste and desire.

We take a sheet of paper, measuring 15.25 x 287 cm, and bend it in the center, then divide both halves in half again and bend again. Thus, we got 4 rectangles, each of which will contain one box. We place our boxes on them as shown in the figure and glue them.

After the glue dries, just bend the sheet with the boxes along the folds

Our box with a secret ready!

Here are some options for boxes with a secret

Each person is mysterious in their own way. And everyone, no doubt, has their own secrets. For example, many people often long years keep all sorts of trinkets reminiscent of significant events life. If you are in this category, you may need a secret box. In souvenir shops, you can easily choose the thing you like, moreover, it can be locked with a key for safe storage of “secret” little things. But in ancient times, such devices were not on sale. And therefore, those who wanted to hide any thing from others invented various tricks. One of these useful things was a secret box made from an ordinary book. Only its owner knew on which shelf and in which row of the huge library (which was an obligatory tradition in those days) the keeper stands hidden secrets. This article will tell you how to make a box with a secret with your own hands - from a book, and even in the form of a book.

Making a real cache. Method one

You will need any book you do not need, which differs from the rest in its monumental thickness. It is desirable that the blank has a reliable hardcover and a thick cover. So, let's begin. Place the book in front of you and open it on the front endpaper. Prepare a thin wooden board in advance, which should have the same dimensions as the book. Place it under all pages on top of the back of the cover. After that, draw the contours of the hole on the first page with a pencil. It can be either rectangular or round or oval. Naturally, the rectangle is much easier to cut. Yes, be patient: the hole will have to be cut in each page separately. Use a special sharp cutter for these purposes or, drawing along the marked lines, bend the finished pages with a niche inside. So gradually process everything to the bottom cover. An old box with a secret is ready. An imitation of this product can be makeshift fixture, which is described below.

The second way: a box with a secret using cardboard

Such a craft may well become original gift with a surprise. Taking this little thing tied with a bow, the birthday boy is unlikely to immediately guess that a boring nondescript volume from the collection of classical literature is an interesting and unusual hiding place. The frame of an old unnecessary book is used as a cover. Cut and glue four rectangles out of cardboard (these will be the sides) and place them inside the blank following the example of the previous box, forming an empty niche in the middle. Can be pre-drawn on front side border lines imitating pages. Then firmly glue the inner frame to the bottom cover and spine. Make a rope bookmark for originality. Surely the gift will be memorable!

Japanese secret box

One of the ways to keep secrets are the traditional gizmos of some peoples. For example, the history of wooden Japanese caskets has its roots in the distant past. You can open such a device, made by hand, in several stages (sometimes there are more than a dozen of them). It all depends on the level of difficulty. By shifting in a certain sequence of fragments and walls, decorated with ornaments and mosaics, there is a gradual disclosure of all the secret drawers of the box. The process is somewhat reminiscent of a children's puzzle - tags, only here everything is much more complicated.

The world is full of wonders and mysteries! Build your own secret box, let the secret settle in your house!

The use of beautiful wood, elegant design and instructions - the DIY box below makes a great gift.

Design sophistication with an artistic departure from the usual corner connections- connection with spikes of variable width - adds zest to the corners of the box. Below will be presented a variant of the manufacture of the connection - straight box spikes of variable width.

In the manufacture, you can also use pieces of various types of wood with a beautiful texture pattern, stored in advance. And you can make caskets from plywood, you just need to choose the required thickness of the material.

Choose from contrasting woods for the body, lid, and handle.

In this section, we will consider how to make a box with our own hands using corner joints such as a spike-groove straight.

1. Prepare end walls A - 10x56x46 - 2 pcs. and longitudinal walls B - 10x56x292 - 2 pcs.
2. To set up the saw to make the tenon joints shown in the drawing below, install a 19mm thick slot disc and make a trial slot on a piece of wood, then readjust to 6mm and check the slot width.

1. Cut a 19mm wide slot into the trim, cut a 10x305 spacer to a thickness equal to the slot width and check the fit. Then repeat the operation with a groove 6 mm wide.

1. Set the slot disc back to 6 mm, adjust to a depth of 11 mm. Fix on the movable stop-carriage a wooden extension pad protruding to the right of the saw blade at a distance of 15 cm. Slide the extension pad over saw blade by cutting a groove. Cut out a 305 mm long spacer into a pin 50 mm long and 6 mm thick.

Video on how to make a plywood box with your own hands