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Incense container, wood covered in black lacquer with gold nashiji and takamaki-e lacquer, gilded copper fittings, a design of plum blossoms by a stream with frogs and a warbler (uguisu), probably about 1550-1600
Incense box in the form of a raft with flowers, mid-19th century
Set of boxes for storing incense wood, late 19th-early 20th century

A kōbako (香箱) is an incense storage box used in kōdō (香道, "Way of Incense"), the traditional Japanese art which involves using and appreciating incense within a structure of codified conduct. It can be used to store the items needed for the incense-comparing games. [1] called kumikō (組香) and genjikō (源氏香). The similar word kobako (小箱; note the short o rather than long ō in the first syllable) means "small box" in Japanese.

The kōbako is somewhat similar to a kōgō, an incense box used in the Japanese tea ceremony. However, "the kōbako was usually a little larger than the kōgō, and sometimes had a small tray or small boxes to go with it." [2]

Often decorated with lacquer and showing a high degree of craftmanship, kōbako are studied and collected by those who appreciate Japanese arts and crafts. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Related meanings

The rugged Sōunkyō Gorge in Japan's Daisetsuzan National Park has an area of "fantastic crags". [7] "The narrowest section of the gorge is called Kobako, or "Small Box", because of the enclosed feeling imparted by the towering rock pillars shooting up from the riverbanks." [8]

In 1936, Bourjois introduced a perfume called Kobako, which was packaged in a container "inspired by an old lacquered cabinet". [9] The perfume, described as a "Chypre Floral fragrance", is still on the market. [10]

According to Kunihiko Kasahara, there is a traditional origami pattern called a Tsuno Kobako, which is identified as a "folded pouch for perfume". This paper folding pattern goes back at least to 1734, when it appeared in a book called Ranma Zushiki. [11]

Kōbako is a slang term for " vagina" in Japanese. It is among several such slang terms for the vagina that "have flourished since the Edo period, and have been sharpened by centuries of persistent use". [12]

References

  1. ^ Dick, Stewart (1905). Arts and crafts of old Japan. A.C. McClurg & Co. p. 131.
  2. ^ Bincsik, Monika (2006). "Kōgō and Kōbako as "Objets de Vitrine" in Europe during the Second Half of the 19th Century". Arts of Asia. 36. Hong Kong.
  3. ^ Bushell, Raymond (1979). The inrō handbook: studies of netsuke, inrō, and lacquer. Weatherhill. ISBN  9780834801356.
  4. ^ Stern, Harold P. (1972). The magnificent three: lacquer, netsuke, and tsuba: selections from the Collection of Charles A. Greenfield. New York, New York: Japan Society. ISBN  9780913304006.
  5. ^ Okada, Barbra Teri (1983). A sprinkling of gold: the lacquer box collection of Elaine Ehrenkranz. Newark, New Jersey: Newark Museum. p. 134. ISBN  9780932828101.
  6. ^ Tachau, Hannah (June 1914). "The Collector's Scrap Book: Old Lacquer". House Beautiful. New York, New York. p. 94. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
  7. ^ "Soun-kyo Gorge". Japan National Tourism Organization.
  8. ^ Dodd, Jan; Richmond, Simon (2001). The rough guide to Japan. London: Rough Guides. p. 353. ISBN  978-1-85828-699-0.
  9. ^ "Crystal". Arts & Decoration, Volume 45. Adam Bunge. 1937.
  10. ^ "Kobako Bourjois for women". Fragrantica Perfume Encyclopedia. Fragrantica. 2006–2011. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
  11. ^ Kasahara, Kunihiko (2005). The Art and Wonder of Origami. Bloomington, Indiana: Quarry Books. pp. 50–56. ISBN  978-1-59253-213-1.
  12. ^ Constantine, Peter (1994). Japanese Slang: Uncensored. Clarendon, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing. p. 94. ISBN  978-4-900737-03-7.

External links

Media related to Kōbako at Wikimedia Commons

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