The Japanese word keman is a translation of the Sanskrit word kusuma-mala, meaning flower garland. These round pendant discs, made of metal, leather, or wood, are thought to have originated as floral wreaths placed before the altar as votive offerings. Richly ornamented keman are an integral part of the interior decoration of Buddhist temples. Generally they are suspended from columns or from the outer edges of the canopy above the altar platform. In the Nara and Heian periods, these substitutes for perishable flowers were usually made of painted leather. From the Fujiwara period, the 11th and 12th centuries, when the court was extremely wealthy and money was no object, gilt bronze was favored. For reasons of economy, leather and wood found favor from the 14th century.

This classic example is carved and painted on both sides with a symmetrical openwork design of lotus blossoms and buds, the traditional flower of the Buddhist paradise. The veins of the white and pink lotus are painted with gold pigment. The disc was suspended from a ring (now missing) which fit through the metal loop attached at the top rim. The entire rim is sheathed in a protective gilt-bronze cover. A blue ribbon, depicted as hanging at the center of the circle of blossoms, is tied in a large knot, a reminder of the origin of the keman as a flower garland suspended from a ribbon.

There was additional decoration in the form of five small metal bells suspended from the hooks on the bottom rim, and two long metal tassles hung below the ribbon ends.

In terms of dimensions, style and technique, this example is closely related to two wood keman datable to the 14th century in the collection of the Nara National Museum (see Nara National Museum, Flowers of Buddhist Applied Arts, exh. cat. [April-May 1982], no. 176.)