For your special garden – a handsome “spirit” lantern

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 handsome authentic hand-carved and hard to find “Spirit Mountain” stone lantern, 48 inches; high and 39 inches wide at base.

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

Period: Taisho period, 1920

Quality: It’s a nice old one and still bears traces of 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.

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 favorite 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 channel spirits via the round firebox or portal.

Lifetime guarantee of authenticity.

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.

We are members of NAJGA: North American Japanese Garden Association