Yamato Block Puzzle Once Owned by Olive C. Hazlett
date: label: date made
content: ca 1950
notes: label: Description
content: This Japanese puzzle consists of six differently notched wooden rods that fit together to form the symmetrical object illustrated on the front of the cardboard box. The idea of wooden interlocking puzzles may have come from carpenters who 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.
label: Description
content: International interest in these puzzles began when Japan reopened to the west after being closed from the mid-seventeenth century until the mid-nineteenth century.
label: Description
content: The box also holds a sheet of instructions.
label: Description
content: This copy of the puzzle belonged to the mathematician Olive C. Hazlett. A mark on the lid reads: THE (/) YAMATO (/) BLOCK PUZZLE. Another mark there reads: MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN. After the Japanese surrender at the close of World War II, Allied forces occupied the country until the spring of 1952.
label: Description
content: Compare MA.335284.
label: Description
content: Reference:
label: Description
content: Jerry Slocum and Rik van Grol, “Early Japanese Export Puzzles: 1860s to 1969s”, <i>Puzzlers’ Tribute A Feast for the Mind</i>, eds. David Wolfe and Tom Rodgers, Natick, Massachusetts: A K Peters, 2002, pp. 257-272.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Japan
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematical Recreations
label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Women Mathematicians
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Hermitage of St. Joseph
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2015.3004.04
label: nonaccession number
content: 2015.3004
label: catalog number
content: 2015.3004.04
objectType: label: Object Name
content: puzzle
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (pieces material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (box, instruction material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 cm x 7 cm x 6.8 cm; 13/32 in x 2 3/4 in x 2 11/16 in