Details

Subject(s)

• Hōryūji (Ikaruga-chō, Nara-ken, Japan) [Browse]
• Buddhist dhāraṇī [Browse]
• Buddhism—Japan—Prayers and devotions—Early works to 1800 [Browse]
• Printing—Japan—History—Origin and antecedents [Browse]
• Scrolls, Japanese—To 1600—Specimens [Browse]
• Block printing—Specimens [Browse]
• Stūpas, Miniature—Specimens [Browse]
• Japanese paper—Specimens [Browse]

Commissioning body

Shōtoku, Empress of Japan, 718-770 [Browse]

Former owner

Griffin, Gillett G. (Gillett Good), 1928-2016 [Browse]

Publisher

Hōryūji (Ikaruga-chō, Nara-ken, Japan) [Browse]

Library of Congress genre(s)

• Prayers [Browse]

Getty AAT genre

• prayer scrolls [Browse]
• miniatures (object genre) [Browse]
• prayer books [Browse]

Medium/​Support

• paper rdamat
• wood rdamat

Summary note

An original copy of the block-printed Hyakumantō darani text, the earliest surviving example of a datable printed text, rolled inside a numbered wrapper and stored in a miniature wooden pagoda. The Empress Shōtoku (718-770) of Japan was said to have commissioned one million such objects to appease the Buddhist church after an uprising in the 8th century. This prayer is the "short" Sōrin variety.

Provenance

Formerly owned by Gillett Griffin.

References

• Kornicki, Peter. "The Hyakumantō darani and the origins of printing in eighth-century Japan." International Journal of Asian Studies, volume 9, no. 1 (2012): 43-70.
• Hickman, Brian. Monumenta Nipponica, XXX, 1, pp. 87-93, A Note on the Hyakumanto Dharani.
• Article by Mimi Hall Yiengpruksawan in the Princeton University Library Chronicle 48, no. 3 (spring 1987): 225-33.

Other title(s)

• Wu hou jing guang da tuo luo ni jing
• Mukujōkō daidarani kyō
• Mugujŏnggwang taedarani gyŏng
• One million pagodas and dhāraṇī prayers

OCLC

1535135560

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