Incense clock box Japanese antique

size : W24.5cm D24.5cm H14cm This item is a box that was used as part of an incense clock. It is said that the incense clock came from China and was used in Japan from the Nara period (710 to 794) to the Edo period (1603 to 1868) as a permanent incense burner in front of Buddhist temples. The time was read by the length of the incense burning, taking advantage of the fact that the speed at which incense burns is almost constant.