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A Butsudan (仏壇, lit. " Buddhist altar") , sometimes spelled Butudan , is a shrine commonly found in temples and homes in Japanese Buddhist cultures. [ 1 ] A butsudan is either a defined, often ornate platform or simply a wooden cabinet sometimes crafted with doors that enclose and protect a Gohonzon or religious icon, typically a statue or ...
ihai A spirit tablet , memorial tablet , or ancestral tablet [ 1 ] is a placard that people used to designate the seat of a deity or past ancestor as well as to enclose it. The name of the deity or the past ancestor is usually inscribed onto the tablet.
Butsudan were originally meant just for Buddhist worship, but now often contain also spirit tablets called ihai, which are yorishiro used to recall the spirits of one's dead ancestors). [4] In shops one often sees clay cats with a raised paw called maneki-neko , or rake-like bamboo objects called kumade supposed to attract good business.
A butsudan usually contains subsidiary religious items—called butsugu—such as candlesticks, incense burners, bells, and platforms for placing offerings such as fruit. Some sects place ihai , memorial tablets for deceased relatives, within or near the butsudan.
bay – see ken.; bettō (別当) – Previously the title of the head of powerful temples, e.g. Tōdai-ji, Kōfuku-ji, etc. (still in use at the former).Also a monk who was present at Shinto shrines to perform Buddhist rites until the Meiji period, when the government forbade with the shinbutsu bunri policy the mixing of Shinto and Buddhism.
Honzon (本尊, "fundamental honored [one]"), sometimes referred to as a Gohonzon (ご本尊 or 御本尊), is the enshrined main image [1] or principal deity [2] in Japanese Buddhism.
Most Japanese homes maintain Buddhist altars, or butsudan (仏壇), for use in Buddhist ceremonies; and many also have Shinto shrines, or kamidana (神棚). When a death occurs, the shrine is closed and covered with white paper to keep out the impure spirits of the dead, a custom called kamidana-fūji (神棚封じ).
The articles had been placed in household altars (kamidana or butsudan), in kitchen, silk-worm raising rooms or entry halls. They have been variously made from the wood of small trees such as Cornus controversa or Rhus chinensis. Gunma Prefectural Museum of History, Takasaki, Gunma