Stone Lanterns

Stone lanterns — toro — line the approaches to major Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, their rows creating a processional experience that intensifies the sense of approaching sacred space. Asano's rendering of this subject would have emphasized the architectural rhythm of repeated lantern forms along a path or avenue, the geometric repetition of the stone structures creating a pattern that was simultaneously decorative and spiritually directional. The stone lantern's form — combining base, shaft, fire chamber, and cap in a miniature architectural program — provided him with a subject of considerable formal interest.