November 2022

How the box culture developed in Japan.

What were the roots of the box in Japan? The box was also introduced from China as a Chinese chest. It can be said that without China, nothing can be said about Japanese culture. The first boxes that came to Japan were used to store Buddhist ritual utensils. This eventually spread to be for sutras, kesa, and Buddhist rosary and so on. In those days, boxes were not necessary for the general public, and only tools related to the noble Buddhist religion were carefully stored and preserved in such boxes. This was also the case with Shintoism.The box was first used to store tools for religious purposes. As the Nara（710-784） […]