National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

　　The “Petition of Mako no Shimanushi (Mako no Shimanushi ge)” was submitted by Mako no Shimanushi, a scribe responsible for the copying of sutras at the Scriptorium (Shakyo sho) in Nara, one of many scriptoriums active at the ancient capital. This petition is dated to the twenty-eighth day of the seventh month of Tempyo Hoji 2 (758). According to the document, a relative of Mako no Shimanushi—possibly a sibling of his father—had fallen seriously ill two days earlier, on the twenty-sixth day of that month. Because this relative was so weak as to be unable to leave their quarters, and had not yet recovered by the 28th day, Mako no Shimanushi sought another four days away from the Scriptorium to care for the relative himself.
　　There are many other petitions for time off penned by scribes at the Scriptorium during the Nara period (710–794) that are still extant. The reasons offered for such requests are many and varied—the scribe had finished transcribing the sutras for which they were responsible; the scribe was in poor health; there was a death in the family. Thus, these documents are of profound importance: they bring to life the voices of low-ranking officials from the distant past.
　　Finally, the reverse side of this paper was used as well once it had served its purpose as a petition. It was used as part of the “records on food rations at the Thousand-Scroll Sutra Transcription Bureau.”