Challenge your Mind with Himitsu Baku

The Himitsu Baku is a Japanese wooden puzzle box, handcrafted from wood by one of many master craftsmen. The men who create these boxes in Japan are renowned for their craftsmanship, because these are simply no ordinary boxes. The Himitsu Baku Japanese puzzle box is said to have been first developed in or around 1893, which was the tail end of the Edo period in Japan. The purpose of the Himitsu Baku Japanese puzzle box is to challenge those who wish to open it. The Himitsu Baku box consists of a number of small panels, decorated in intricate Japanese patterns that make it a perfect mantle piece decoration. These panels need to be moved slightly in different steps, and each of the steps loosens devices within the box that will allow it to be opened after a certain sequence has been completed. The most popular and more easily found Himitsu Baku Japanese puzzle boxes are found in four-step, seven-step, ten-step and twelve-step variations, though there are a number of other variations as well. There have been Japanese puzzle boxes created by master craftsmen that require as many as 125 or 150 'moves' to open them, but these boxes are extremely difficult to find, and many of the craftsmen responsible for their creation have passed on. Read More...