That being said, I had the opportunity to go to Hase-ji Temple in Nara, perhaps because I was walking around a certain temple the other day, or maybe I was climbing a mountain. As for Hase-dera, it is a famous temple, so I think some of you may know it, so I decided to touch it on another day, and when I visited that day, the memorial service of the Danya-san was held. ..

I wonder if the memorial service is over, the priest stood up. Do you have a patterned incense burner in your raised hand? For the first time, I encountered the appearance of actually using the incense burner. At my parents’ house, the memorial service often welcomes a temple to my house, so I was very lucky to have never encountered such a scene.

A Buddhist priest who carefully holds a patterned incense burner in a dimly lit temple and enters the interior with a faint incense smoke. A series of flowing actions was very beautiful and often admired. In front of the large eleven-faced Kannon statue, it was like a picture of a beautiful scene that unfolds quietly.

Although I couldn’t actually go to see such a pattern incense furnace, when the special exhibition “Saintokutaiko and Horyuji Exhibition” was held at the Tokyo National Museum this summer, the national treasure “Uogata pattern” It seems that the “Incense Furnace” Asuka period (a treasure dedicated to Horyuji Temple in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum) was on display. It seems that this name was given because the end of the handle is divided into three parts and resembles the tail of a magpie, and this pattern incense burner has a very simple design. I really wanted to see it.

In the first place, the patterned incense burner is also called a hand furnace, and it is a Buddhist tool that is held in the hand and offers Kaoru incense to the Buddha, but its beginning is ancient India, the birthplace of Buddhism. It begins with the custom of laying flowers, burning incense, and offering fire to gods and people who should be respected. As a result of this being incorporated into Buddhism, the three flowers, incense, and fire have come to be considered as the three most basic offerings (offerings) dedicated to Buddhist statues. For this reason, incense burners, which are tools for burning incense, have been used in Buddhism from early on, and incense burners with a handle, “handle”, are attached to the incense burner.

The pattern incense burner is so important that it is one of the tools that Buddhist monks should have, and it has a long history among the tools related to Buddhism. It is said that Buddhism that originated in India was introduced to Japan via China and the Korean Peninsula in the middle of the 6th century, and as I mentioned earlier, the oldest existing work in Japan is now at the Tokyo National Museum. It is a pattern incense furnace in the 7th century of the Asuka period, which is one of the treasures dedicated to Horyuji Temple, and it is presumed that it was brought to Japan with the introduction of Buddhism in a short time.

There are various designs for the patterned incense burner, but the general feature is that copper is cast to make parts, and they are joined and finished. The part of the container with the mouth open like a morning glory is the furnace for incense, and underneath it is a flower-shaped seat that supports the furnace. A long handle is attached to the furnace, and two round copper plates are attached to the part where the handle touches the edge of the furnace. The tip of the handle is bent 90 degrees, and a lion-shaped “chin”, that is, a “heavy” is placed. Although it is said to be heavy, it has a strong meaning of decoration. The lion has a powerful appearance with its front legs fluffy and its tail raised high.

Actually, our shop also has a patterned incense burner, and I was appreciating it based on this feature, but our patterned incense burner has a delicate lotus flower-like carving and a gentle design. is not it.

When I opened the lid of the furnace, there was a slight amount of ash left inside.
It reminds me of a line of incense smoke that would have drifted in the past.
I really wonder where it was used.

See you again.