Kenji Ekuan reveals that a deeper reading for the traditional Japanese lunchbox: seeing the lunchbox as nothing less that a key to an understanding of Japanese civilization, the spirit of form, and the aesthetic ideal in which the many are reduced to one.

The traditional Japanese lunchbox is one of the most familiar images of Japan's domestic environment. Kenji Ekuan reveals that a deeper reading is possible: seeing the lunchbox as nothing less that a key to an understanding of Japanese civilization, the spirit of form, and the aesthetic ideal in which the many are reduced to one. Ekuan reads the Japanese lunchbox as both object and metaphor. He compares the visual pleasures of the Zen lunchbox to an aerial view of the Japanses archipelago; looks at the quadripartite structure in relation to the four seasons. In so doing, he unlocks the secrets of ancient Japanese rituals, celebrates the aesthetics of Japanese design, explores the contours of Japanese landscapes and technology, and delineates the 48 rules of the etiquette of Japanese form.