For your special garden

Here’s a beautiful and unique way to accent your indoor or outdoor garden space with this rare treasure from Japan.

From an old Japanese Nagoya garden comes this authentic hand-carved and hard to find Spirit Mountain stone lantern, 68 inches; high and 48 inches wide at top, six pieces.

Spirit lanterns assembled from natural stones were popular in mountainous areas of Japan and are thought to repel ill spirits via the round firebox or portal.

Period: Taisho period, 1920

Quality: It’s a nice old one and still bears traces of old root encrustation on its surface emblems of good age. Please see historical information below.

This scarcer size and style lantern would make an ideal choice for an outdoor installation.

For your viewing pleasure we include a similiar spirit lantern that had been installed at the Toji temple in Kyoto. (see next to last photograph)

Many of our customers place LED candles inside the main sections making a romantic and enjoyable decorative accent for entertaining friends and family. They are a perfect choice for your patio or outdoor garden space.

This lantern is one-of-a-kind and comes from an old Japanese Nagoya area garden.

Only one available.

Brief History of Japanese lanterns:
Japan’s lantern tradition was imported from India yet has existed in Japanese temples and gardens since the seventh century. They were originally conceived as entrance lighting and guardians and when lit served as an offering to Buddha. Some of the earliest stone lanterns were carved with Buddhist images on the firebox and usually had compartments for an oil lamp or candle. Later on, they became more secular in nature, and their use evolved as functional and decorative elements in traditional Japanese tea gardens. Today’s vintage survivors serve as fashionable aesthetic elements in modern day Japanese and Asian inspired gardens.

There are four main categories of antique Japanese stone lanterns. Tachi-gata are pedestal lanterns such as the famous Kasuga lanterns, ikekome-gata are the so-called buried lanterns, oki-gata are small often portable lanterns, and yukimi-gata are sometimes commonly mis-described as “snow viewing” lanterns but in fact were often installed near water.

-Spirit, lanterns assembled from natural stones were popular in mountainous areas of Japan and are thought to repel unwelcome spirits via the round firebox or portal. This beautiful lantern is currently in our Kyotot warehouse awaiting shipment.

Lifetime guarantee of authenticity. We are members of NAJGA: North American Japanese Garden Association.

We have been dealing in fine authentic Japanese antiques including screens, garden ornaments, lanterns and water basins for many years. Our president personally travels to Japan each year to meet his network partners who assist him in finding best examples. He personally inspects each antique to ensure its old age, authenticity, and quality condition.