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Perspective boxes were one of a number of optical curiosities or devices introduced into Japan in the 17th to 18th centuries. A variety of lenses and/or mirrors are used along with images painted on the inside of the box, or small objects placed within the box, to create for viewers who peer inside the box a semblance of an experience of a complex, three-dimensional, scene.

Perspective boxes were one of a number of optical curiosities or devices introduced into Japan in the 17th to 18th centuries. A variety of lenses and/or mirrors are used along with images painted on the inside of the box, or small objects placed within the box, to create for viewers who peer inside the box a semblance of an experience of a complex, three-dimensional, scene.

One notable example of such perspective boxes or "peep boxes" was one gifted by the [[Dutch East India Company]] to the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] in [[1647]]. Shogunate officials viewed the box at the [[Nagasaki-ya]] residence for the Dutch in [[Edo]], and dubbed it a ''gokuraku bako'', or "paradise box," referencing a traditional Chinese story of a wizard who entered into a gourd to live in the world inside there (a ''kyôchû no ten'', lit. "heaven inside a gourd"). ''[[Ometsuke|Ômetsuke]]'' [[Inoue Masashige]] also previewed, or inspected, this and other gifts at his own mansion before they were presented to the shogun at [[Edo castle]] by [[Willem Versteeghen]], chief trader of the VOC in Japan.

One notable example of such perspective boxes or "peep boxes" was one gifted by the [[Dutch East India Company]] to the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] in [[1647]]. Shogunate officials viewed the box at the [[Nagasaki-ya]] residence for the Dutch in [[Edo]], and dubbed it a ''gokuraku bako'', or "paradise box," referencing a traditional Chinese story of a wizard who entered into a gourd to live in the world inside there (a ''kyôchû no ten'', lit. "heaven inside a gourd"). ''[[Ometsuke|Ômetsuke]]'' [[Inoue Masashige]] also previewed, or inspected, this and other gifts at his own mansion before they were presented to the shogun at [[Edo castle]] by [[Willem Versteeghen]], ''[[opperhoofd]]'' (factor) of the VOC in Japan.

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