Tamatebako

A tamatebako (玉手箱) "jeweled hand box", "jewel box", "jeweled box", "treasure box", "casket", etc., is a mysterious box that in the Japanese folk tale "Urashima Tarō", is a parting gift that the fisherman Urashima Tarō receives from mistress of the sea (Otohime), after his stay at the Dragon Palace (or Hōrai), to which he was invited after saving a turtle. Katami no hako "memento box" is another name by which the box is referred to in the tale. Tamakushige "comb box" is the name that occurs in earlier precursors, such as the anecdote of Ura-no-Shimako (Urashima-no-ko) in the Fudoki of Tango Province and the Manyōshū (8th century). The term tamatebako was first employed in reference to the tale in a quoted poem in Otogizōshi.