National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

This is called the Censor with Handle with Bottle-Shaped Weight, because a bottle-shaped weight (Chinsu) is fixed on the end of the handle. The form, including the incense burner, the handle and the heart-shaped metal ornament on the root of the handle is basically the same as the Censor with Handle with Lion-Shaped Weight in N-282. It was thought that this type of censer became popular in and after the Heian Period (794-1185), however, examples from the Chinese Tang period have been found recently and thus the origin of this type is now thought to be from continental Asia. Therefore, when this censer was produced may date back further, as the entire design and the style of the weight look old.