Keywords
Art History
Sculpture
Sandalwood; santalum album. A tree with fine-grained hardwood, native to India and Southeast Asia. The wood is pale-yellow colored and has a strong fragrance. It is used for Buddhist statues *danzō 檀像, fans ōgi 扇, and prayer beads juzu 数珠. The wood nearest the root of the tree, which has the strongest fragrance and a rich gold color, is known as ōdan 黄檀. There are approximately 20 varieties of sandalwood, including the light-red akasendan or shakusendan 赤栴檀.