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Lot Essay
In Buddhist temples the fusatsu ceremony is held on the fifteenth day of each month as an act of repentance for sins and errors committed during the previous month. This formal basin, or tarai, sometimes also known as fusatsu tearai, would have held the water for participants to wash their hands during the ceremony, forming a set with the shukindai, a small rack on which hand-towels were hung.
A few basins without feet have been preserved at temples in and around Nara, such as Horyuji and Todaiji, but most medieval vessals of this type are stabilised by adding three powerful neko-ashi ['cat's-paw' feet]. When the basin is placed on a flat surface the three feet would probably have helped to improve the flow of air around the liquid and to protect the vessel from damage.
A few basins without feet have been preserved at temples in and around Nara, such as Horyuji and Todaiji, but most medieval vessals of this type are stabilised by adding three powerful neko-ashi ['cat's-paw' feet]. When the basin is placed on a flat surface the three feet would probably have helped to improve the flow of air around the liquid and to protect the vessel from damage.