Old Blue Timbered Roof Tree Lantern, lucky bamboo design

An early hard to find Japanese natural “Tree” form lantern, “Koboku-Toro” with fine handcrafted details including a timbered roof, lucky bamboo themed fire box side panels, and a naturalistic tree root base. circa 1950s.

This is one of the earliest examples of this style we have seen in over fifteen years of dealing with fine Japanese garden ornaments.

Dimensions: 34 inches tall and 12 inches wide

Period: An old vintage original with original greenish blue patina finish from the Showa period., 1930s.

Quality: Crafted from heavy iron with naturalistic cut-out tree trunk design by Japanese specialized artisans about 70 years ago. Sturdy and stabile. Weathered surfaces with remnants finish appropriate to its decades old age just the way we like to find them.

New Japanese Tree lanterns retail for up to $5500 each

Good garden candidate this is an ideal sturdy accent size for a small outdoor or indoor Zen garden.

Only one.

Provenance: Old Japanese American garden

Many of our customers may place oil or led candles inside the main section making a romantic and enjoyable decorative accent for entertaining friends and family or add or replace electrical modifications inside the firebox. It’s a perfect choice for your indoor or outdoor garden space.

Lifetime guarantee of authenticity: All of our Asian works of art come with our lifetime authenticity guarantee.

We have been dealing in authentic Chinese and Japanese antiquities, garden ornaments, lanterns and water basins for 25 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 work of art to ensure its old age, authenticity and quality condition.

History of Japanese lanterns:
In Japan a to¯ro¯ (lantern) is a traditional lantern made of stone, wood, or metal. Like many other elements of Japanese traditional architecture, it originated in China. In Japan, to¯ro¯ were originally used only in Buddhist temples, where they lined and illuminated paths and lighted lanterns were then considered an offering. In its complete, original form the lantern represents five elements of Buddhist cosmology: Bottom touching the ground, represents chi, the earth, the next section represents sui, or water, ka or fire is represented by the section encasing the lantern’s light or flame, while fu¯ (air) and ku¯ (void or spirit) are represented by the last two sections, top-most and pointing towards the sky. These last two sections express the idea that after death our physical bodies will go back to their original, elemental form.