Japanese Esoteric Buddhist Ritual Implement from the 19th-20th Century – Vajra (15.2 cm length)

Acquired from an overseas collector. The collector indicated it is from the Edo period (1603-1867 AD, early 17th-19th century). This roughly corresponds to the late Ming to mid-Qing dynasties in Chinese history. Vajras from the Edo period generally range from 150 to 420 years old. However, after handling antiques for many years... I prefer to conservatively estimate a slightly younger age, placing it in the early 19th-20th century. A religious artifact with a century of history is a more fitting description. Made of brass alloy. Hand-carved and finished. A genuine Vajrayana ritual implement with a history of practice. Length: 15.2 cm. This is considered a large-sized vajra. In Japanese Esoteric Buddhist ritual implements, the middle section of the vajra commonly features four inscribed rings. These four rings represent the four eyes of Vairocana Buddha, subduing all demonic obstacles... **************************** New vajras currently cast on the market, especially exquisite new pieces, retail for approximately NT$3,200-4,000. Mass-produced items from mainland China are even cheaper, costing as little as NT$600 equivalent. Some newly cast vajras are made by using century-old ritual implements as molds. The exterior appearance is not significantly different. Without the accumulated experience of collecting old Tibetan ritual implements, it is difficult for novice collectors to discern the differences between new and old. Currently, most Taiwanese collectors focus on old Tibetan ritual implements. Collectors of Japanese Esoteric Buddhist ritual implements are very few, and the supply of old Japanese Esoteric Buddhist artifacts on the market is even rarer... Therefore, old Japanese Esoteric Buddhist ritual implements are difficult to promote in Taiwan... ********************************** Regarding the spiritual resonance of ritual implements, I personally do not possess such sensitivities. Whether it be ancient Tibetan Phurba daggers, vajras... or even Japanese Esoteric Buddhist vajras with one, three, or five prongs... I feel nothing. However, this year, while acquiring a large number of Tibetan ritual implements, I also obtained a few Japanese ones. One evening, while handling a vajra, I placed it under my pillow before sleeping. Unexpectedly, I dreamt of a fire ritual scene and smelled the aroma of burning pine resin. As I have been burning broken amber and beeswax prayer beads for friends in recent years, allowing them to learn the scent of genuine amber and beeswax when burned... In my dream, I specifically inhaled the scent carefully... three times in succession... Thus, I confirmed in my dream that it was indeed the scent of burning resin like pine or beeswax... Upon waking at dawn... in over 30 years... I have touched countless ritual implements... and remained numb to their energies... Yet, through this vajra, I received a dream-induced resonance... A colleague in the antique trade from southern Taiwan once said: "The mental power of Japanese practitioners surpasses that of Tibetans. Do not underestimate Japanese ritual implements..." On December 7, 2024, a fellow Daoist practitioner, who has been dedicated to spiritual cultivation and meditation for a long time, visited. After sensing the energies of several ritual implements I possess, both Tibetan (11th-18th century) and old Japanese vajras... Upon holding them, he could not stop yawning repeatedly, unable to stop... exclaiming how powerful the energy was... Then, he looked at me with disbelief, asking if I felt nothing when touching these ritual implements. After sensing them, he took photos to show his master. After I explained the age and acquisition cost of each ritual implement... The next morning, he shyly requested to acquire three Japanese Esoteric Buddhist ritual implements (single-prong, triple-prong, and five-prong vajras) from me. He mentioned that the energies sensed from Japanese ritual implements were almost as powerful as those from Tibetan ones. However, the price difference is enormous... Similar to the price disparity between Tibetan Dzi beads and West Asian beads... He must have calculated that Japanese ritual implements would be more affordable... On December 19, 2024, he made a special trip from the north to find me and reported that the night he brought these Japanese ritual implements home, he placed two of them by his bedside cabinet. He then dreamt of seeing two divine dragons, one large and one small, appearing within the vajra. He has cultivated his senses for many years, and this experience brought him immense surprise... ********************************** On December 18, 2024, I made an offering to the Guru Ugyen Khenpo at the Dharma center. I inquired if there were any practices in Tibetan Buddhism involving the triple-prong vajra. The Guru replied that only householder yogis practice visualization meditation. It is purely a meditative practice, visualizing the triple-prong vajra in the mouth... In reality, the physical ritual implement is not used. 12000-8800-114.05.01