Japanese
Puzzle Box
Finishes
Apart from plain wood finishes, Japanese puzzle boxes come in designs which incorporate one of three finishes - Yosegi, Muku and Zougan. Each of these is explained below.
The Yosegi is produced by gluing together different woods, planing, slicing, re-gluing a number of times until the various patterns are produced. The finished, patterned block of wood then has slices shaved off with a special plane. These are ironed flat and then glued onto the base box.
In this picture you can see the thin layer of Yosegi on the box lid.
When making a box in the Muku style, the same patterned block of wood is used but instead of slicing off thin sheets and applying to a ready made box, the actual box itself is made from the patterned wood. Made this way the pattern is seen on both the outside and the inside of the box.
This picture shows the whole thickness of the lid is patterned.
Zougan is what we would more commonly call marquetry. The sides of the box are often left plain or covered with Yosegi (as the sample shown) and the top and bottom carry the artwork. The marquetry work, like the Yosegi is applied to the box in sheet form.
As with the top picture, this one shows the thin layer of marquetry applied to the top of the lid.
Shown here are the blocks of wood ready to be shaved for Yosegi or the thicker cut would be used for Muku.
Shaving the Yosegi into thin sheets.
