karabitsu 唐櫃

A Chinese-style chest used to store clothes, arms, personal effects, sutra scrolls (in this case called kyōkarabitsu 経唐櫃), and other valuables. Rectangular in shape, with four or six legs, lid and lock, they are of plain wood, vermilion-lacquered, or lacquered with sprinkled precious metals *makie 蒔絵 or mother-of-pearl inlay *raden 螺鈿. Lavish Heian period examples are preserved at Kongōbuji 金剛峯寺 on Mt. Kōya 高野 and Hōryūji 法隆寺. Originally utilitarian, they were sometimes later also treated as art objects.