HAKO-NIWA (box-garden or box-yard) is a kind of bon-tei or bon-kei (q.v.) generally acknowledged to be a development of hako-niwa. It is therefore sometimes difficult to distinguish them. Hako-niwa is a small landscape garden in a wooden box, which nowadays is often replaced by a more durable concrete with one or two holes in the bottom for drainage, though the vessel is usually larger and deeper than that used for bon-kei. Planted with dwarf trees, bushes and grass, and embellished with natural stones and miniature figures, houses, towers, bridges, etc., of baked clay or bronze, it generally has a small pond for tiny goldfishes. The box-garden is usually placed outside the window or at a corner of the veranda. Unlike bon-kei, which is quickly made and remade according to fancy, the hako-niwa is meant to last longer and some require years for their completion as in the case of the real landscape garden. Though hako-niwa, in its vary ing forms, has existed in Japan for centuries, it has come to be associated more or less with the people, and has not attained the dignity enjoyed by bon-seki, bonsai or ike-bana (qq.v.) and is often no more than a childish amusement. Especially since the popularity of bon-kei, the hako-niwa has declined, though it is still to be seen in shop windows, at the entrance to workshops, in factory dormitories, or in humble homes.