Tatsushu is my hero!
Apr. 3rd, 2009 06:35 amText translation: "[A chochin is] a type of carried lantern where paper is spread across a basketwork lantern, and a candle[? kanji unclear] is put in. The word "Chochin" comes from the Song dynasty, and it spread in the Muromachi period through Zen institutions. At first, they couldn't be folded up, but "box" chochin (hako-chochin) with the accordion style mid-section that could be folded was born in the Bunroku period
(1592-1596) and this style flourished in the Edo period."
Title and author as yet unknown, however the book was described as a "jiten" or encyclopedia of artifacts at the Kasuga shrine.