sekidou　石幢

KEY WORD :　architecture / buildings & structures

Lit. stone flag. A type of stone pagoda with a hexagonal or octagonal base, a banner-shaped shaft, doushin 幢身, a niche, a coping stone shaped like a roof and one or more onion-shaped decorative jewels, *houju 宝珠, on top. Some sekidou have no base so that section is inserted directly into the ground. Sanskrit letters and /or Buddhist images are carved on each side of the shaft. Some sekidou have octagonal or hexagonal shafts. Many have only a shaft and roof. Sometimes they resemble stone lanterns without a light box. According to some scholars sekidou probably evolved from *kasatouba 笠塔婆. The oldest extant date from the Kamakura period (1185-1333), but many were made in the late14c, and after.

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