Nanao Butsudan

Big, sturdy, fully hand-made

Nanao altars are among the few still made entirely by hand. They are big, some over 2 m tall and 1.4 m wide, because Buddhist rooms in Noto homes were large. They were built sturdy enough to survive transport on rough roads, with every part joined by mortise and tenon and every fitting hammered by hand. The gold represents the Buddha's world described in the Amida Sutra, with its seven treasures and beautiful ponds. It is made in Nanao and Nakanoto in Ishikawa.

Five crafts

• Kiji: the body is built of Noto ate and Noto hiba, woods that warp little and last long.
• Carving: a carver uses around 70 chisels for small altar carvings, and places each motif by meaning, with landscapes below animals and celestial maidens above.
• Maki-e decorates the doors.
• Fittings are all hammered by hand.
• Lacquer, gold leaf and assembly: a sabi-jitate ground and fine urushi are applied, and the master of this stage brings all five crafts together.

The lacquerers' town

Old documents in Nanao mention maki-e tools, gold powder, cut-foil tools and gold and silver leaf, and the town has had a district named Nushi-machi, the lacquerers' town, since the Edo period. From this, Nanao altars are thought to have been made since around the mid-17th century. The oldest surviving altar dates from the mid-Edo period.