Hyakumantō dhāraṇī.
百萬塔陀羅尼.
An original block-printed Dhāraṇī text on paper, commissioned by the Empress Shōtoku (718-770) of Japan, which is one of the earliest surviving examples of printed text. A Dhāraṇī scroll, a Buddhist invocation or prayer, housed inside the accompanying original three-story miniature wooden pagoda....
| Other Authors: | |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | Chinese |
| Language Notes: | Sanskrit prayer transliterated into Chinese characters. |
| Published: |
[Japan] :
[publisher not identified],
[770?]
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | An original block-printed Dhāraṇī text on paper, commissioned by the Empress Shōtoku (718-770) of Japan, which is one of the earliest surviving examples of printed text. A Dhāraṇī scroll, a Buddhist invocation or prayer, housed inside the accompanying original three-story miniature wooden pagoda. |
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| Item Description: | Title devised by cataloger. Text comprised of 39 columns of 5 characters. The Cushing Library/Laughlin copy contains a photograph of both pieces and a bookseller's description. " ... The empress [Shōtoku] ordered the printing of one million charms to be placed in a million tiny wooden pagodas, and some time about the year 770 the work was finished and the pagodas and the charms distributed"-- T.F. Carter, The invention of printing in China, 1931, page. 36. " ... Shōtoku ordered that each copy of the text be placed in a miniature wooden pagoda. These were turned on a lathe and made from hinoki wood. In the top of each pagoda was drilled a small hole to contain the printed text; the hole was then plugged with a seven-tiered spire, also lathe-turned but made from cherry wood. Both pagoda and spire were painted with a whitening made from white lead ... "--Monumenta Nipponica, pages 88-89. The four dhāranī [Kompon (or Nemoto), Jīshin (or Jïshinin), Sōrin, and Rokudo] used by Empress Shōtoku were taken from the sūtra: Vimala suddha prabhāsa mahādhāranī. Sutra not identified. |
| Physical Description: | 1 scroll ; 6 x 56 cm + 1 wooden pagoda (13 cm, base diameter 11 cm, plug 8 cm), in wooden case with sliding lid (24 x 14 x 13 cm) |