Japanese - Set of Boxes for Storing Incense Wood - Walters 6783 - Open

A is an

incense Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also b ...

storage box used in

kōdō is the art of appreciating Japanese incense, and involves using incense within a structure of codified conduct. ''Kōdō'' includes all aspects of the incense process, from the , to activities such as the incense-comparing games ''kumikō'' () ...

(, "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. called ''kumikō'' () and ''genjikō'' (). The similar word ''kobako'' (; 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." Often decorated with lacquer and showing a high degree of craftmanship, ''kōbako'' are studied and collected by those who appreciate Japanese arts and crafts.

Related meanings

The rugged Sōunkyō Gorge in Japan's

Daisetsuzan National Park , or Taisetsuzan is located in the mountainous center of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō. At , Daisetsuzan is the largest national park in Japan, and is approximately the size of Kanagawa Prefecture. Daisetsuzan, meaning "great snowy mo ...

has an area of "fantastic crags". "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." In 1936, Bourjois introduced a

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

called Kobako, which was packaged in a container "inspired by an old lacquered cabinet". The perfume, described as a "Chypre Floral fragrance", is still on the market. According to Kunihiko Kasahara, there is a traditional

origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a f ...

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''. Kōbako is a

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-g ...

term for "

vagina In mammals, the vagina is the elastic, muscular part of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vestibule to the cervix. The outer vaginal opening is normally partly covered by a thin layer of mucosal tissue called the hymen ...

" in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. 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".

References

External links

Strong Garden Storage Box By Godwins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kobako Furniture Containers