Shibata Zeshin - Tiered Box (Jūbako) with Design of Boats and Plovers

Jubako are used for take-away meals as bento, or for the traditional Japanese New Year meal of osechi ryori. The osechi ryori dishes served in a jubako are deeply symbolic, as is the actual use of the jubako box - the box has several tiers, symbolising the 'layering of luck and happiness'. Traditionally, a jubako for osechi has five shelves, but only the top four are filled. The bottom tier is empty and is used to "receive blessings from the gods". In recent years, however, three-tier jubakos have become increasingly popular. Filling a jubako with five, seven or nine kinds of food is believed to bring good luck, as 5, 7 and 9 are lucky numbers in Japanese culture.

The origin of the term maki-e is a compound word of maki meaning "sprinkling" and e meaning "picture" or "design". The term can also be used to refer to lacquerware made with this decorative technique. The term maki-e first appeared in the Heian period. This technique is the most used technique in Japanese lacquer decoration. The maki-e is often combined with other techniques such as raden (螺鈿) in which a nacreous layer of mollusk shell lining is embedded or pasted in lacquer, zōgan (象嵌) in which metal or ivory is embedded in lacquer, and chinkin (沈金) in which gold leaf or gold powder is embedded in a hollow where lacquer has been shaved. To create different colours and textures, maki-e artists use a variety of metal powders including gold, silver, copper, brass, lead, aluminum, platinum, and pewter, as well as their alloys. Bamboo tubes and soft brushes of various sizes are used for laying powders and drawing fine lines. As it requires highly skilled craftsmanship to produce a maki-e painting, young artists usually go through many years of training to develop the skills and to ultimately become maki-e masters. Kōami Dōchō (1410–1478) was the first lacquer master linked to specific works. His maki-e works used designs from various Japanese contemporary painters. Kōami and another maki-e master, Igarashi Shinsai, were originators of the two major schools of lacquer-making in the history of Japan.