Legend has it that during the Spring and Autumn Period, the master craftsman Lu Ban wanted to test if his son was clever. He made a detachable toy with six wooden slips and asked his son to tear it apart. After a whole night work, his son succeeded in doing it. The toy was named “Lu Ban Lock” by later generations.
This is just a legend. Actually, Lu Ban lock, also known as Kongming lock, Never-Boring Sticks, the Six Interlocking Blocks, No Way Out and Trouble Blocks etc, was derived from the tenon structure initiated in ancient Chinese architecture.
Kongming lock is a traditional Chinese intellectual toy. It is said that the toy was invented by Zhuge Kongming some 2,000 years ago based on the principles of the eight-diagram metaphysics. It was widely popular among the folks. The concave and convex parts inside the three-dimensional interpolation toy mesh perfectly. Kongming locks come in different shapes and sizes, with different internal structures. But they are usually easy to take apart and difficult to reassemble.
In recent years, Kongming lock made a comeback and became a popular toy for all, thanks to its functions of mind-body relaxing, intelligence boosting and making fingers more flexible. The lock may look simple, but it contains lots of mysteries. If you don’t understand how it works, you can hardly put it together.
This refers to the Chinese culture and you may be difficult to understand. Kongming Lock can also be a good toy for kids or even adults to explore intelligence. Also when you focus on it, you can forget many triffles that bothered you. These toys also can be used as gifts for kids and children!
