Puzzled in Hakone

Leaving the museum at around noon, I needed to make my way to Hakone-Machi, the same town the boat had let me off in yesterday.

The direct bus line to Hakone-Machi was 7 minutes walk but much of that was up a steep hill. Waiting at the bus stop was a nice relaxing moment and it felt like I was really in the Japanese countryside and not part of a popular tourism pilgrimage.

Upon arriving in Hakone-Machi I made an immediate beeline for Izumiya, a store which I had spotted yesterday and which was already on my list of must dos because of their specialty in Japanese Puzzle boxes.

I have been a fan of Puzzle Boxes ever since my parents bought me one at Disney World. You know the kind of box I mean? It doesn't have any visible means of opening but you can often find a hidden sliding panel which unlocks another piece and eventually, depending on the complexity of the box, you can remove the lid revealing a secret compartment.

In 2000, when I was at the World Puzzle Championship we were taken to a display of Puzzle Boxes but these were very unlike the ones I had been used to. Mostly crafted by Japanese Designers working with traditional Japanese Yosegi design, these were challenging puzzles with very unconventional solutions. Magnets and hidden complex locking mechanisms were a regular part of these new boxes. These boxes are often called trick boxes.

Needless to say I was blown away by the elegance of these pieces. I thought of hunting these down when I was in Japan in 2004 but never did. Instead I settled for buying a simple 4 move box that I found at a flea market.

Now that I was actually in Hakone, the region famous for its Yosegi and puzzle boxes I was going to fulfill a life long goal of buying something unique.

Izumiya was one of the best stores around and their stock did not disappoint.

I spent two hours with the store owner trying a wide assortment of trick boxes. Some I was able to solve. Other left me completely flummoxed.

In the end I honed in on the two trick boxes that impressed me the most. The first is a rectangular box with a carved image of a tree on the top face. It has a very difficult but utterly elegant solution. I didn't figure it out myself and I don't think many of you will either though you are welcome to try.

The second box is a square box with a heart design in the removable lid and a clover design under the lid.

This is a much easier box to open although the solution is even more elegant than the first one

In the end I loved both boxes so much that I got them both (even though the square box was way more expensive than I thought). Perhaps I'll tell you how much I spent if you can solve the harder of the two boxes.