Incense burners for religious use come in various forms.
Pots with three or four legs with or without a lid (kooro, koro 香炉)

You can find some huge forms of this type in front of any temple. Most of these traditional containers take their form form old ritual implements of the Shang dynasty in China. They have been introduces into Japan by the Zen sect during the Kamakura period. Some have handles on both sides.
One special version of the Zen sect is a large metal bowl in a stand with six long legs and six small legs for decoration. The long legs can be more than one meter long. This form is called as it looks, "incense burner with legs of an octopus"(takoashigooro 蛸足香炉).
The lid with many holes can be shaped in the form resembling a mountain and is then called "incense burner with a lid in mountain form" (hakusangooro 博山香炉). This type comes from China and the oldest artefacts found were made of bronze during the Han dynasty.

Incense pans with a long grip (egooro, ekooro 柄香炉)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
They are used to carry incense around (shuro 手炉) during religious ceremonies. The grip is usually about 20 to 30 cm long and can be made from wood with a laquer finish. The pan at one side is usually without a lid and at the insertion and the end of the grip there are artistic patterns, which give the article its name. We have incense pans with a little lion (shishichin egooro 獅子鎮柄香炉) or a small vase (byoochin egooro 瓶鎮柄香炉) or in the form of the tail of a magpie (shakuo egooro シャク尾柄香炉) at the end of the grip. Some others take the form of a lotus flower with a long stem and a leaf on the grip (rengegata egooro 蓮華形柄香炉).

Incense trays (koo-inban 香印盤, jookooban 常香盤)
They have the form of a round tray modelled like a lotus flower used to burn incense for a long time in front of a Buddha statue. In this case incense powder is layed out in the form of complicated patterns or the Sanscrit syllables for the Buddha statue and the burning starts from one side. If the powder is layed out in a special pattern you could tell the time from the parts that had burned. These trays have been used since the Nara period.

Two-layered incense burner (kasha 火舎)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
This type is often used for special ceremonies of the Esoteric Buddhism on a large altar. During these ceremonies four burners of this kind are placed at the four corners of the altar and one in the middle. Usually it has a pot with three legs, a flat container and a lid with a knob in form of a wishfulfilling jewel or a little pagoda. The lid has many holes in different artistic forms.
You can read a lot more about this and other Buddhist ritual implements in my German book about this subject, which you can order right here.
Buddhistische　Kultgegenstaende　Japans - Ein Handbuch
(Buddhist ritual instruments of Japan) 日本仏教法具の辞書
http://www.akaikutsu.com/akaikutsu/top/topics-1.html

Stores for Incense burners and other Buddhist items.
http://www1.coralnet.or.jp/katobsan/p11-3-katosei-seihin1.htm
http://www3.nsknet.or.jp/~hamasaki/butugu.htm

Now let us look at some Darumas posing as incense burners. They are usually ment for private use during the tea ceremony, not for the use in temples.
These two come form a similar form and are made of Bizen pottery. Daruma's beard and eyebrows are quite heavily modelled. They are 7 cm high and you can easily find them now in Bizen city.
私のコレクションのだるま香炉です。
備前焼で、だるまの眉や髭が目立つようにできています。

These two are also from Bizen pottery. They are very similar, but the openings at the back have different shapes. Also the nose of one is a lot more rounded than that of the other one. They are 6 cm high and you have to put them on a pottery plate to use them.
次の二人も備前焼です。裏にある穴の形がちがいます。

This smiling fellow has a wide-open mouth as if he was laughing (not yawning as in the AKUBI story). His robe and the flywhisk (hossu) are nicely modelled. The plate is big enough to hold one of the mosquito coils used everywhere during the Japanese summer. He is 10 cm high. このだるまが笑っているように見えます（あくびではなくて、、、）。蚊取り線香をおいておくようなプレートの上にだるまさんの顔、払子や衣が表現されています。

The next two are bronze containers with Daruma. They might have been used in a Zen temple for the private use of a priest. Daruma carries his priest's scepter (nyoi) and looks pretty serious.
The bronze of this seated Daruma is highly polished and shining. It is 11 cm high with two openings at the back and an open mouth. Darumaﾕs robe is swung heavily around his forehead.
青銅でできていますだるま香炉です。多分禅寺でつかわれていたものです。だるまが如意を持っているので達磨大師の姿です。

This bronze container shows Daruma reclining on a boat. We saw the detail at the beginning of this story. He is also carrying his szepter, which comes apart if you lift Daruma off his boat. The boat shows careful imprints of Sanskrit letters on both sides. Daruma on a boat will be subject of another story. The ship is 23 cm long and the smiling Daruma is about 10 cm high. He is obviously enjoying some evening cool in China.
船に横になった達磨大師です。かれも如意を持っています。船の両側に梵字が描かれています。
ちょっと珍しい青銅の作品です。

The story continues with the Incense containers.
次は香合の話です。