Japanese Lanterns

4

Paper bonbori, the daruma chochin and solar stone lanterns for the garden: Japanese lanterns

Four lanterns: a round white bonbori paper lantern painted with plum blossom, lotus or pine, a cream one wrapped in red blossom, a ribbed chochin barrel lantern with a daruma face, and solar-powered garden lanterns on stakes in the stone-lantern shape, sold by two, four, six or eight.

Solar Japanese Garden Lanterns 'Michiakari'

Solar Japanese Garden Lanterns 'Michiakari'

$35.00
Japanese Paper Lantern 'Bonbori'

Japanese Paper Lantern 'Bonbori'

$15.00
Red Blossom Round Paper Lantern 'Umeakari'

Red Blossom Round Paper Lantern 'Umeakari'

$15.00
Daruma Chochin Paper Lantern 'Fukuakari'

Daruma Chochin Paper Lantern 'Fukuakari'

$20.00

ABOUT THIS COLLECTION

Japan lights a room softly and from paper. The chochin is the collapsible paper lantern of the shop front and the festival, ribbed, printed with a name or a face; the bonbori is the round one on a stand or a cord, painted with blossom; the toro is the stone lantern of the temple path and the garden. Four here: a round white paper lantern painted with plum blossom, a lotus or a pine, a cream one wrapped in red blossom, a ribbed chochin barrel with a daruma face, and solar-powered garden lanterns on stakes in the stone-lantern shape, sold by two, four, six or eight.

Chochin, bonbori, toro: three lanterns, three places

The chochin is paper over a bamboo spiral that collapses flat; it hangs outside a restaurant with the name on it, at a festival in a row, and in Asakusa as the giant red one at the temple gate. The bonbori is the round or hexagonal paper lantern on a short stand or hung from a cord, the one at the hina doll festival and at the cherry blossom viewing, painted rather than lettered. The toro is stone, or bronze, a small roofed house for a flame set along the path to a shrine, and the garden version stands in moss and lights the way to the door. The noren marks the doorway the lantern lights; the daruma whose face is on the chochin is next door.

The four

The round white bonbori on a collapsible wire spiral with a hanger, printed in the manner of ink painting with red plum blossom, a pink lotus or a pine tree, three designs. The round cream lantern printed with red plum blossom on black branches wrapping the whole globe. The chochin barrel in white ribbed paper with black rims, printed with a red daruma face and the characters for good fortune, in two sizes. And the solar garden lanterns: black weather-resistant plastic shaped as a small stone lantern with a pitched roof and latticed windows, on a stake, a solar cell in the roof, a warm LED inside, in sets of two, four, six or eight for a path.

Lantern	Japanese	Material	Where
Round paper, painted	雪洞 bonbori	Paper on a wire spiral	A ceiling, a window, over a table
Barrel with a daruma	提灯 chochin	Ribbed paper, black rims	A doorway, a party, the wall
Solar stone lantern	灯籠 toro	Weather-resistant plastic	The garden path, the balcony

How to hang and light them

The paper lanterns open by pulling the top and bottom apart; the spiral expands and the hanger goes on a cord, a hook or an LED cord-and-bulb kit. Use a cool LED bulb, never a hot one: paper and heat are a bad pair. Hang the bonbori at a height where the painting is at eye level; hang the chochin in a doorway or by a window where the daruma faces the room. The solar lanterns push into the ground along a path, a metre or two apart, cell facing the sky; they charge by day and light at dusk on their own.

Care

Paper lanterns collapse flat for storage and dislike damp and direct sun; dust with a soft brush. The solar lanterns live outside; wipe the cell clean now and then so it charges. Made to Japanese designs in Asia, and every page says so.