Sutra desk - Kyozukue

A desk used to place Buddhist scriptures and to recite them. In Zen Buddhism, it is called a kinnan. There were various shapes, such as multi-legged tables with 8 or 16 legs, and flower-shaped legs, but from the Heian period onwards, they came to be used for reading and copying sutras, and they generally were about the height of a sitting desk, had brush holders on either side of the base to prevent brushes and sutra scrolls from falling, and had square legs that curved outward to open. Some have a transom under the base, and some have drawers in this area. The current style seems to have been established during the Kamakura period. There are not many old relics, but the black lacquer desk at Kyoto's Kosanji Temple dates from the Heian period and is designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan.

[Yoshinobu Nakao]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

仏教の経典を安置したり、読誦(どくじゅ)するときに用いる机。禅宗では経案(きんなん)という。8足、16足などの多足机や、花形足など種々の形があったが、平安時代以降は看経(かんきん)や写経に使うようになり、座り机くらいの高さで、甲板(こういた)の左右に筆や経巻が落ちないよう筆返しをつけ、断面が四角の脚を外開きに反らせたものが一般的となる。甲板の下に欄間(らんま)をつくるものがあり、ここに引出しを備えるものもある。現在みられる制式が定着するのは鎌倉時代らしい。古い遺品はあまり多くないが、京都高山寺(こうざんじ)の黒漆(くろうるし)机は平安時代のもので、国の重要文化財に指定されている。

［中尾良信］

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