About Us

Morning Sun’s Buddhist altars are the result of 200 years of Japanese sculptural wood working tradition. While the roots of Japanese design continue to inspire and influence the way we make butsudans today, it is the lifestyle, architectural design and multicultural flavors of America that have altered the design concept to create the American style butsudan that we are proud to display and offer our customers.  The simplicity of the designs showcases elegance and is purposeful.  Our butsudans are designed to bring focus to the Gohonzon, maximizing the ability for people to see it from multiple angles.  In addition, every butsudan is different simply because we use real wood and no piece of wood is the same.

Morning sun has a long tradition of challenging and improving on butsudan design.  Our grandfather, Asajiro Akazawa, brought out the artistic qualities of creating a butsudan to a higher level.  A wood sculptor himself, he also broke with the traditional ways by diversifying the kinds of wood utilized to make these beautiful altars.  Today we continue to improve on butsudan design by making pieces that address the different needs and preferences of our customers. 

Our goal is to create pieces that support and inspire our customers’ daily Buddhist practice.  At Morning Sun we are proud to offer pieces that are different from traditional butsudans and we are able to do that because we are not just a store that sells butsudans, we are also the manufacturers.