MUKUJOKO-KYO; VIMALA-NIRBHASEA-SUTRA

MS 2489
MS Short Title MUKUJOKO-KYO; VIMALA-NIRBHASEA-SUTRA
Text MUKUJOKO-KYO; VIMALA-NIRBHASEA-SUTRA: JISHIN-IN DHARANI. INSIDE HYAKUMANTO PAGODA
Description Blockprint in Japanese on paper, Nara, Japan, 764-770, 1 scroll, 6x45 cm, 31 columns, (5x36 cm), 5 characters per column in Chinese book script, inside a wooden 3-storey pagoda.
Binding Nara, Japan, 764-770, cypress wood 3-storey pagoda, 22x10 cm, originally painted white, 7 characters inscription at bottom.
Context The Horyuji temple in the Nara area still possesses a number of these pagodas. MS 2924 is a pagoda with the text Kompon Dharani (see the illustration).
Provenance 1. Temple, Nara, Japan (764-770); 2. Sam Fogg cat. 19(1998):152.
Commentary These pagodas were made in the number of one million, commissioned by Empress Shotuku as thanks for the suppression of the Emi Rebellion by Fujiwara Nakamaro in 764. 900,000 pagodas were distributed to temples around the entire country. 100,000 were divided between the Ten Great temples in the Nara area, which erected special halls for these pagodas, known as the Small Pagoda Hall, or the Ten Thousand Pagoda Hall. Four different texts were printed, all from the Mukujoko sutra: Kompon Dharani, Storin Dharani, Jishin-in Dharani, and Rokudo Dharani.
Place of origin Japan
Dates 764 - 770 AD