Japanese Puzzle Boxes

The original Hakone region Himitsu Baku makers use the 'sun' system when they describe the sizes of their traditional puzzle boxes. "Sun" is a traditional unit of measure in Japan that denotes length, and a single 'sun' is about 30.3 millimeters, or approximately 1.22 inches. This system is most commonly used in order to describe the approximate sizes of the Hakone Puzzle Boxes, but the sun system is not used to describe height or width, or how large or small the inside compartment is. The sun system uses numbers ranging from 1 sun to 7 suns, with 1 sun equaling 1.22 inches, 2 suns equaling 2.44 inches, 4 suns equaling 4.88 inches, six suns equaling 7.32 inches and 7 suns amounting to 8.54 inches. Mame, or miniature boxes range from 1 to 1.5 suns, small boxes range from 2 to 3 suns, 4 sun boxes are medium sized boxes, 5 sun boxes are standard, 6 sun boxes are considered to be large sized boxes, and 7 sun boxes are 'very large'.