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 Kyoto area garden comes this authentic hand-carved and hard to find “Spirit Mountain” stone lantern, 46 inches; high and 24 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: Showa period, 1940

Quality: It shows patina from age -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.

Call or email us to reserve it as it is one-of-a-kind.

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.

Lifetime guarantee of authenticity.

Our gallery has been dealing in authentic Japanese and Asian art, garden ornaments, lanterns and water basins for 25 years. Our president personally travels to Japan and Europe each year to meet his network partners who assist him in finding best examples. He personally inspects each antique work of art to ensure its old age, authenticity and quality condition.

We are members of NAJGA: North American Japanese Garden Association