The komainu perched on the lid is hand-modelled, and no two of its features are quite the same, which tells you everything about how this kōro was made.

The maker signed in hiragana on the base: Inamino Kōzan, a name that places him in the Inami plain of Hyogo Prefecture and gives his studio the name "mountain of good fortune".

Made during Meiji to early Shōwa period, this incense burner stands on three feet with twin ear handles and a body pierced in a reticulated geometric pattern through which the incense smoke escapes. The form is classical and well-proportioned. The execution is careful throughout.

The perforations do not just release the smoke, they slow it. It drifts out in thin threads rather than rising in a single column, dispersing through the pattern before it reaches the air.

The celadon craquelé follows the glaze across every surface including the cutwork edges, which means the crazing formed after the piece was pierced and fired complete. The fine network of lines reads differently in different light, darker in shadow, almost invisible where the glaze catches the reflection.