Incense Burner / Elephant

Product Story

General Product Information

Incense burner with elephant motif.
It is made using an ancient Buddhist altar carving technique.
The detailed carving realistically depicts an elephant, and its size is mesmerizing to behold.

Place incense of your choice on the plate above.

 Product History

When did these crafts start to craft?：1300 years ago / 700AD / Yamato period in Japan

With the arrival of Buddhism in the 6th century, Buddhist altars began to be produced in Japan. As time progressed, investigations by Buddhists to outlaw Christianity led to the installation of butsudan (small shrine) in homes. This increased demand for butsudan led to further expansion of production of kyo-butsudan. Even today, the technology used to make butsudan is still being used to develop meticulous products.

Craftsman Story

Craftsman Profile

Chie Katori
Originally from Hokkaido, now thriving as a Buddhist statue sculptor in Kyoto Prefecture. One of the attractions of their work is the effort and ingenuity that have been accumulated over many generations, passed down from master to apprentice. They specialize in detailed carvings.

Craftsman Passion

"I aim to deliver skills that have been passed down through many generations."

 I want to share Kyoto's sculpting techniques, which have been handed down from ancient times, with people all over the world. Not limited to Buddhist altars and ritual implements, I also create products that can be easily used in everyday household settings.

Customer Voice

Due to the market structure (link for full articles are attached bottom), craftsman have not known who the customer is and how customer reacts to their work. We made a “Message to Craftsman” box at purchase page. We will deliver all message to every craftsman. Our review will be also shared to craftsman so please leave your comment and evaluation on review section!

Income for Craftsman: Craftsman get only less than 10% of selling price?

As written above, craftsman have not controlled last phase of sales channel that resulting in selling price is set by third-party without craftsman’s recognition. There are some cases that only less than 10% of selling price is given to craftsman. We promise with our customer / craftsman that we offer the fair trade with craftsmen in our contract!

We made an article about above problem and our challenge. Please have a read from below link.
Current state of the Crafts Market / Benefits brought by Suigenkyo

Width：26cm
Depth：17cm
Height：18.5cm
Weight：1610g

Materials

Japanese cypress

Caution

Individual Difference

Each piece is handmade, so there are individual differences even in the same series. We hope that you will understand the change by handmade.

Delivery Date

Please note that it will take about three months for delivery if we do not have the item in stock.