I bought this object in Kobe Motoko 5, if I recall correctly, in any event located under the JR line, between Motomachi and JR Kobe. The lady told me "mikageishi kara", which I figured meant that the stone from which it was carved came from stone mined in Mikage, a place between Ashiya and Ojikoen. I did not know that mikageishi is the word for granit.Barbara thought that a simpler one would be better, and a good friend was worried about the soul, which I thought refered to my soul, but in reality she was refering to Ojizousan's soul. Another picture may be viewed
We have a so called bungalow, a garden house which was here when we bought the house. It was built in stages from ca. 1960 to the 80s. We decided to renovate it and install a Japanese room (和室), washitsu, and got carried away in the process. In short we wound up rebuilding the place, installing a functional kitchen, bath and this along with the tatami room.
There was also a second, actually first from time so to speak, as it was built around 1930, just before even the house was built, garden house. It had a basement, but the building was in horrid shape and we had it torn down while we were in Osaka. The pond in front of the "Bungalow" is the basement of the other garden house.