Vintage Japanese Temple Style Box

About the Item

Presenting a lovely vintage Japanese Temple style box. Made of rosewood … this box has a cover featuring Buddhist Swaztikas on the front. The cover lifts off to reveal a tabernacle with 2 carved dragons on wither side. Probably made in the first quarter of the 20th century, circa 1920-1930. Rectangular shaped for the storage of deities statues or treasures within. On an attached wooden plinth or base. One single piece. A really nice and unusual box of medium proportions. Bought by a Dallas Private Collector whilst on a trip to Japan in the 1970s. Buddhist temples, or Buddhist monasteries together with Shinto shrines, are considered to be amongst the most numerous, famous, and important religious buildings in Japan. The shogunates or leaders of Japan have made it a priority to update and rebuild Buddhist temples since the Momoyama period. The Japanese word for a Buddhist temple is tera (?) (kun reading), and the same kanji also has the pronunciation ji (on reading), so that temple names frequently end in -dera or -ji. Another ending, -in (?), is normally used to refer to minor temples. Such famous temples as Kiyomizu-dera, Enryaku-ji, and Kotoku-in are temples which use the described naming pattern. The Japanese word for a Buddhist temple Tera (?) was anciently also written phonetically ?? tera, and is cognate with the Modern Korean Chol from Middle Korean Tiel, the Jurchen Taira and the reconstructed Old Chinese *d?ia?, all meaning “Buddhist Monastery”. These words are apparently derived from the Aramaic word for “Monastery” dera/ daira/ der (from the root dwr “to live together”), rather than from the unrelated and later Indian word for monastery vihara, and may have been transmitted by the first Central Asian translators of Buddhist scriptures, such as An Shigao or Lokaksema.

Dimensions:

Height: 13 in (33.02 cm)Width: 13.5 in (34.29 cm)Depth: 5.75 in (14.61 cm)

Style:

Japonisme (Of the Period)

Materials and Techniques:

Wood,Hand-Carved

Place of Origin:

Japan

Period:

Early 20th Century

Date of Manufacture:

1920-1930