Hiroshi Iwahara’s Pineapple Secret is one of the most strikingly beautiful pieces he has created and is an incredible achievement from this master of the Karakuri Creation Group.

Hiroshi Iwahara is one of the well-known and highly respected artisans from the Karakuri Creation Group who has designed and produced well over fifty individual puzzle boxes with the group.

A toast this week to my alma mater and the class of 1992 who are gathering back on campus for our twenty-fifth year reunion. Haverford College is a special place set in the beatific landscape of the Philadelphia suburbs on a unique arboretum campus.

The idea of a box which needs to literally shrink in order to open is simply fascinating to me, and apparently to Hiroshi Iwahara, who designed it, and Tatsuo Miyamoto, who crafted it, as well.

One of the Japanese Karakuri Creation Group artists who has delighted in pushing the boundaries of what is possible is Hiroshi Iwahara.

One of the most prolific and creative modern puzzle box artists from the Karakuri Creation Group, Hiroshi Iwahara, decided he would turn the tradition inside out with his “Byways Secret” box set.

Another one of Iwahara’s famous creations is his “Box with a Tree” which won an “Honorable Mention” prize in the 2006 Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition.  This unassuming little box appears to be a rather plain wooden box, originally crafted in walnut, with a small silhouette of a tree in the lower corner.

Would you like to hear a secret?  Who doesn’t like to be in on a good secret?  Mysteries, codes, hidden treasures, all excite because in part they hold a secret which we might be able to access, if we are clever enough.  The allure of the puzzle box relies on the secret, on knowing there is a hidden way in, and on finding it if we can.

Today I present a box which at first appears to conform to the “standard” moves found in traditional Japanese puzzle boxes, but holds a secret (!) which turns the convention inside out.