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Playable heritage game

Kumiko lattice

Also known as 組子 · joinery pattern puzzle

Kumiko is Japanese woodwork in which very thin, grooved strips of wood are fitted together without nails to make lattice panels for sliding screens and doors. The panels hold by the pressure of the joints, and each geometric pattern is named after a leaf, flower or other natural form.

Play the previewAbout this tradition
Kumiko lattice: photograph by Sergei Sarin
Photo: Sergei Sarin, CC BY-SA 4.0, source on Wikimedia Commons
Kumiko lattice: the game in attract modeLive previewPlay

Runs in your browser, works offline once loaded.

How to play

  1. Pick a wood tone and a piece from the strip under the frame.
  2. Touch a square to fit that piece: it is repeated in all matching places of the frame, because a lattice repeats around its centre.
  3. Copy the small panel shown above, then press Check.
Rules at a glance
  • The frame is symmetric left to right, top to bottom and along both diagonals, so every piece you fit is copied to its seven partners.
  • A square counts only when both the piece and the wood tone match the target.
  • Three stars need a nearly perfect copy; you can undo or clear as often as you like.

About the tradition

Kumiko has been made in Japan since about the 7th century, with many of the roughly two hundred patterns in use dating from the Edo period. Craftspeople still cut and fit the strips by hand, traditionally in cypress.

Origins

A living tradition passed from person to person; it is not tied to a single dated origin. It belongs to the cultural world of Japan and Korea.

Credits

Sources

Get the app

Kumiko lattice is one of 20 paper and paint crafts in the Paper & Paint of the World app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Submitted to the App Store and Google Play; in review. Store links appear here the day it goes live. One app, many traditions, no account needed.

See all 20 paper and paint crafts in the app

In review on theApp StoreIn review on theGoogle Play

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