mathematics in action! more time consuming than terribly expensive, the process seems relatively simple, but I'm certainly not going to be setting up a shop and trying my hand at it.
The amount of persistent fitness between all the pieces so that it becomes one is why it seems very expensive... Like violins. The materials overall are not that much. You are mainly paying for the knowledge and labor that is only built up from many years of experience to make a high quality product.
I checked a couple websites, the boxes and whatnot run anywhere from 3500 yen to 38000 yen. with current exchange its like 35$-400$. For that level of work...worth it. http://www.hakonemaruyama.co.jp/index-e.htm just the first link on the google