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butsudan

noun plural butsudan or -dans
  1. (in Buddhism) a small household altar
  2. (in Nichiren Buddhism) an ornate cabinet which holds the Gohonzon
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Word Origin

from Japanese butsu Buddha (from Chinese fu) + dan shelf
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Examples from the Web for butsudan

Historical Examples

  • Finding that he had, she bade him open the butsudan and light a lamp.

    Myths & Legends of Japan

    F. Hadland (Frederick Hadland) Davis

  • Going to the Butsudan, or house altar, at once he lit the lamps.

  • The farmer expressed his fear of spirits, whereupon the woman inquired if her host had a butsudan (a family altar).

    Myths & Legends of Japan

    F. Hadland (Frederick Hadland) Davis

  • At home, the ancestral tablets in the Butsudan form the centre of the ceremonies.

    Japanese Girls and Women

    Alice Mabel Bacon

  • Deign to refrain from taking life in the house; nay, before the very ihai in the Butsudan.