Kawanabe Butsudan

Sturdy and fairly priced

Kawanabe altars are made by seven divisions: wooden body, inner shrine, carving, fittings, maki-e, lacquer and finishing. Detailed throughout, they are sturdy and reasonably priced. It is made in Minamikyushu in Kagoshima.

Black lacquer, pure gold

• The body is built of cedar or pine.
• It is coated in natural hon-kuro-nuri black lacquer.
• It is finished with pure gold leaf and gold powder.
• Body, inner shrine, carving, ground, lacquer, maki-e, gold leaf, fittings and final assembly complete the altar.

Faith in hiding

In the early Kamakura period the Kawanabe clan and Heike survivors defeated at Dan-no-ura devoted themselves to Buddhist rites around the Kiyomizu valley, and many stupas and carved Sanskrit letters said to be theirs remain on a cliff about 500 m long. In 1597 the Shimazu domain banned the Ikko sect and altars were burned, but faith survived in secret: altars grew smaller, and some were disguised as chests of drawers that opened to reveal a gleaming gold altar. In early Meiji, with freedom of religion, altar making began openly again.