Lit. "hand box." Introduced from China as a comb box before the Heian period, they were popular with court women through the Muromachi period. The earliest boxes usually had a fitted inner tray with three small containers for cosmetics, writing materials *suzuribako 硯箱, and incense *kōgō 香合. Eventually the writing box evolved as a separate unit and was subsequently replaced by numerous receptacles.
By the late 11th century, the six most common boxes stored within the tebako were two small rectangular boxes for tooth black; a square box for cosmetics such as white face powder; a large round box for a mirror kagamibako 鏡箱; and two small, round boxes for incense. Through the Muromachi period, tebako had two main types of lids: kabusebuta-zukuri 被蓋造 (overlapping lid style); and aikuchi-zukuri 合口造 (flush mouth style). When daimyō chōdo 大名調度 (appliances for daimyō) became popular, tebako styles included the jūni tebako 十二手箱 (twelve-layered type) and sumiaka tebako 角赤手箱 (red corner type).