Object Details
- Description
- This Japanese puzzle is composed of six differently notched rods of wood that fit together to form the symmetrical puzzle that you see illustrated on the front of the box. The idea of wooden interlocking puzzles came from carpenters that made ancient wooden shrines in Japan. These shrines would not be able to withstand earthquakes with nails and glue, so wood with interlocking joints was used in place of other materials.
- Interest in such puzzles began when Japan was closed to the outside world from the mid-seventeenth century until the mid-nineteenth century. Even in much of the twentieth century, objects with the word “Japan” on them had a certain allure.
- The puzzle pieces fit in a box with instructions.
- This object was a part of the collection of the Washingtonian Edith Meggers.
- Compare 2015.3004.01, an example of the puzzle owned by mathematician Olive C. Hazlett.
- Reference:
- Jerry Slocum and Rik van Grol , “Early Japanese Export Puzzles: 1860s to 1969s”, Puzzlers’ Tribute A Feast for the Mind, eds. David Wolfe and Tom Rodgers, Natick, Massachusetts: A K Peters, 2002, pp. 257-272.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Edith R. Meggers
- ca 1920-1970
- ID Number
- MA.335284
- catalog number
- 335284
- accession number
- 314637
- Object Name
- Puzzle
- puzzle
- Physical Description
- wood (overall material)
- paper (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 1 cm x 6 cm x 6 cm; 13/32 in x 2 3/8 in x 2 3/8 in
- place made
- Japan
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Mathematical Recreations
- Record ID
- nmah_694576
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b3-6068-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
