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

Produced in the late Heian period (794–1185), this sutra box was originally kept at Jingūji Temple in Obama, Wakasa Province (now Fukui Prefecture). It is made from leather that was fashioned into a box and then coated in several layers of lacquer that dried to a hard finish. The outside of the box and both sides of the lid were sprinkled lightly and evenly with gold powder (heijin). Each surface was then further embellished with spray-like lotus scrolls and fluttering butterflies in maki-e (designs in gold or other precious metals applied using lacquer). The bottom of the lid has a less densely sprinkled gold ground than the top and more diverse renderings of butterflies. The lotus flower motifs combine different kinds of metal, including pure gold and a gold-silver alloy, and different maki-e techniques to impressive effect, such as filling in outlined sections with powdered gold (uchimaki), and adding variation through strategic use of different colors and sizes of metallic powders (makiwake). The front and back of the box have metal fittings in the shape of a four-petal stylized flower (karahana). In the center of each petal is an openwork design composed of a pair of leaves arranged in a flower-like configuration (taiyōka-mon). These and other elegant details reflect the meticulous craftsmanship that went into producing the box. Lotus scrolls and butterflies are considered symbols of the Pure Land, making them an appropriate choice for a box meant to hold Buddhist scriptures.

This is the only extant sutra box with a leather substrate from the late Heian period, but lacquerware was often made with leather substrates during the Nara period (710–794). Over 40 such works have been preserved in the Shōsō-in Repository of Tōdaiji Temple, and others are owned by Tōji Temple in Kyoto. Leather was gradually replaced with other substrates from the late Heian period onward. The box is particularly valuable as a rare example of a lacquer object with a leather substrate that is entirely decorated in maki-e.